“After many years of exchanges and discussions, the Australian authorities validated the protocol and the export health certificate proposed by France. The first exchanges [commerciaux] can therefore commit”, welcomed in a press release the union of meat companies (slaughtering, processing), Culture meat.
This “victory”, salutes the organization, “is the culmination of a long work” of the French authorities and professionals.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty evokes for its part “long negotiations for ten years”, and specifies that these exports will concern “fresh meat, transported frozen and intended for processing, for example in ham and bacon,” in a statement released Thursday evening.
It highlights “the seriousness of the provisions implemented in France in terms of biosecurity of farms and production sites, but also of preparation or fight against epizootics such as swine fever (classical and African )”.
“We have never exported to Australia before. We do not yet know what market share we will nibble on, but any new market opening is a victory because it allows us to diversify our export locations around the world”, Director of the Inaporc pork interprofession, Anne Richard, told AFP.
“For the moment, we are very focused on Asia and in particular on China”, the first destination for French exports outside the European Union, she said.
The meat, frozen, will in principle be transported to Australia by boat.
According to the Australian pork organization which promotes local production, “all fresh pork” marketed in Australia is “100%” raised locally but “the majority of ham and bacon available in supermarkets is made from pork imported”.
Australia imports 200,000 tons of pigmeat every year. “France remained the only major pork-producing country to be excluded” from this market dominated by Denmark (55,000 tonnes), the Netherlands (50,000 tonnes) and the United States (35,000 tonnes), reports Meat Culture.
The organization specifies that French exporters will have to respect “a strict health protocol imposed by the Australian health authorities and meet several criteria”. Raw meat must thus be “essentially intended for processing upon arrival in Australia”.