According to information from the Instituto Colombiano Agropecuario (ICA) and the Instituto Nacional de Vigilancia de Medicamentos y Alimentos (INVIMA), an agreement has been successfully reached with the Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería (MAG) of El Salvador to establish a sanitary requirement to enable the entry of beef.

The sanitary requirements that must be met for export include the following:

1° The production units from which the animals originate have not been subject to any official sanitary restrictions and maintain an animal health control program under the supervision of the sanitary authority.

2° The product comes from cattle that have been declared fit for slaughter and processing of their carcasses in official ante and post mortem inspections, and the head, pharynx, tongue and associated lymph nodes are excluded from the shipment.

3° The establishment from which it originates has a safety management system based on HACCP principles and its respective prerequisite programs, and at the time of loading, the area to be used for transporting the product has been verified and declared "suitable for food transport".

4° The product is fit for human consumption and free for sale. Likewise, it is subject to supervision within the framework of the National Subsectorial Plan of Surveillance and Control of Residues of Veterinary Drugs, Pesticides and Chemical Contaminants.

Last january, the ICA announced the publication of the requirements in the Sistema de Información Sanitaria para Importación y Exportación de Productos Agrícolas y Pecuarios (Sispap), thus formalizing the opening of this market, which provides livestock farmers with a new opportunity to continue diversifying their commercial destinations and expand their production system.

Translated by: A.M