Meat pilot program focuses on meat nomenclature

Ottawa, Ont. – The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have launched a pilot program to harmonize nomenclature for commonly traded meat cuts.

The 22 wholesale meat cuts in the program are listed in the online version of The NAMP Meat Buyer’s Guide at www.meatbuyersguide.com

The pilot program allows Canadian and American meat producers to ship products without having to re-box or re-label products in order to meet prescriptive wholesale terms of the other country.

The U.S.-Canadian Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC) was tasked with the process of harmonizing wholesale meat cut nomenclature in 2011 in order to reduce or eliminate unnecessary trade barriers. The North American Meat Association, publisher of The NAMP Meat Buyer’s Guide, was responsible for co-ordinating the committees of U.S. and Canadian companies and USDA and CFIA officials that developed the harmonized names.