View of the meeting of the inter-institutional commission at the headquarters of the Ministry of Agriculture. / External source
Santo Domingo – The Dominican Republic has completed most of the process to lift the ban on beef exports to the United States, and all that remains to be done is for inspectors from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to visit the five meat processing plants authorized to export, informed the Ministry of Agriculture.
The agency said that the country is called phase four of equivalence, which is how the process to be fulfilled for lifting the ban is known.
To achieve this last goal, an inter-institutional commission was formed to articulate strategies to set up audits of the inspection systems in the five meat processing plants authorized for export in the country by the Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) of the United States Department of Agriculture.
The purpose, said the Minister of Agriculture, Limber Cruz, is for the Dominican Republic to reestablish beef exports to the United States, paused by a ban of more than 20 years.
He said that the high-level commission formed will guarantee the meat industry’s quality, health, and safety control systems in slaughterhouses, processing plants, and cattle ranches.
The Interinstitutional Follow-up Commission for Beef Exports is made up of Alexis Alonso and Rubén Hernández, livestock advisors to the Executive Branch and Agriculture, who will coordinate it.
It is also completed by Luis Martínez and Jaime Santoni, from Public Health, and producers Ricardo Barceló, Ulises de Veras, Enrique de Castro and Jonatán Rivera.
This commission held a meeting with Sonia Guzmán, Dominican ambassador to the United States, in which also participated the director of Inespre Iván Hernández Guzmán, as well as technicians, inspectors, and business people of the sector.
Minister Cruz delivered to the ambassador the documentation that guarantees to the United States authorities the country’s conditions to resume beef exports to that market.
The Dominican diplomat showed her willingness to strengthen the productive sectors, especially those who have a vocation for export and generation of foreign exchange and create employment sources.
She informed that she would convene a working team in Washington to promote this initiative through the pertinent official mechanisms.
The Minister urged meat producers to comply with the specifications and commitments in terms of quality, quantity, and frequency once the ban is lifted.