Chinese officials have allowed Canadian dignitaries to import and serve up a “special shipment” of beef for a July 1 barbecue at the Canada Pavilion during Shanghai’s World Expo 2010.
“We’d like to thank our Chinese friends for allowing a special shipment of beef for our Canada Day celebrations, as we work to complete our agreement for staged full market access,” federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz, who will host the event in Shanghai, said in a release Tuesday.
“Canada is the first BSE-affected country to receive any beef access to China in almost a decade and this landmark agreement will help ensure a bright future for the Canadian beef industry by getting our safe, high-quality beef back on Chinese store shelves.”
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Other dignitaries expected to attend the event include Governor General Michaelle Jean and Canada’s Commissioner General for Expo 2010, Mark Rowswell, a Canadian performer famous in China under the stage name Dashan.
Servers at the barbecue along with Ritz are to include Travis Toews, president of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, and Gib Drury, chair of the Canada Beef Export Federation.
China last week signed an agreement granting access for Canadian boneless beef derived from animals under 30 months of age (UTMs), and for industrial-grade Canadian beef tallow. The agreement lays out a staged approach to full market access for Canadian beef and beef products.
CBEF estimated the Chinese market for Canadian beef and tallow will be be worth about $110 million a year once the stage of full market access is reached.
According to the federal government’s release Tuesday, Ritz is in China for the third time in less than a year to build on the Canada-China ag trade relationship, mark 50 years of agricultural co-operation between the two nations and “push for the removal of trade restrictions on Canadian canola.”
China in November 2009 imposed a requirement on all Canadian canola exports for phytosanitary certificates which certify shipments as free of blackleg.
During the Shanghai event, the government said, Ritz and Wayne Murphy, executive chef at the Canada Pavilion and chef professor and co-ordinator of the culinary arts program at Ottawa’s La Cite collegiale, are also planning to highlight Canada’s “world-class pork and canola products.”
The beef at the event will also include a canola-based marinade, the government noted. Canadian pork is also on the menu.
CBEF’s Drury noted in the government’s release that the shipment allowed for Canada Day is destined also for a reception in Beijing for 90 guests at a CBEF “demand-building” seminar.
“The guests are key industry representatives from Beijing’s import and distribution sector, retail sector and culinary sector who will help build demand and sales for Canadian beef in this tremendous market,” he said.
