Scotch Beef misses out on historic day
Scottish beef farmers have missed out on having their produce included in the first export of UK beef to the United States in 20 years.
When American chefs, butchers, importers, distributors, wholesalers and members of the press sit down to samples of sirloin and topside mini beef joints in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania next week, Scotch Beef will not be on the menu as processors here are still waiting for accreditation to export to the US.
Instead, the shipment of beef has been flown from a processing plant in Northern Ireland ahead of an export deal which the industry hopes could be worth an estimated £66 million over the next five years.
Quality Meat Scotland said the situation had arisen because a Scottish processor is still in the final stages of accreditation and the process had been put on hold because of Covid-19.
A Scottish Government spokesman added: “AK Stoddart are in the process of going forward for approval and will be looking for official listing in 2021 and hoping to export to USA next year.
“AK Stoddart is a forward-looking company who have recently been one of the first to export both to Japan and Canada.”
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