Focus on the Future Continued from page 10
sequester five times more carbon than we emit. If these
companies are going to buy carbon offsets, the rendering
industry can sell carbon credits.”
Latin America Outlook
German Davalos, who heads NARA’s Latin America office,
gave insight into that region’s opportunities for U.S. rendered
products. In 2020, all fat exports to Latin America totaled 451
thousand metric tons (TMT), with Mexico accounting for 67%
of it. From January to June of 2021, the U.S. has exported 179
TMT to Latin America, with 82% going to Mexico.
On the protein side, U.S. exports of protein meals to Latin
America totaled 260 TMT in 2020, with just a bit more going
to South America than Mexico. January to June 2021 saw 121
TMT exported, with the majority going to Mexico.
“During the pandemic, across the region the only sectors
that grew were agriculture and animal production,” Davalos
emphasized.
The pet food sector, particularly dog food, is growing in Mexico
where there are more dogs than cats. Consumption of dog food
grew 5% between 2016 and 2021. Cat food consumption, while
smaller in total, grew 8% during the same time.
“They import premium and super premium pet food in
Mexico,” Davalos explained. “About $130 million worth. They
also export it to Central America.”
EU Outlook
Bruce Ross, NARA’s EU consultant, presented virtually giving
renderers some perspective on how political developments in
New NARA officers sworn in during the board of directors meeting
include, from left: Michael Glenn, BHT Resources, second vice
chairman; Mike Smith, Valley Proteins, chairman; and Jim Long,
Darling Ingredients, first vice chairman. Also pictured far right is Kent
Swisher, who assumes duties as president and CEO on Jan. 1.
the region are affecting trade and regulations and discussed
progress on the EU’s feed ban.
On the politics front, Ross said it’s been a very unusual
year as several countries in the EU held elections with no
government in place months after the election. Also, Poland
and Hungary have been defying the rule of EU law and there
are corruption problems in Bulgaria and Romania. Ross
explained all this matters because it slows down action on
trade policy and climate change issues that are affecting
rendering businesses and other businesses.
Ross said the impact of EU’s feed ban lifting is uncertain
as the food chain must relearn how to use these processed
animal protein products correctly. It’s estimated less than
10% of EU feed mills will be authorized to use either avian or
porcine processed animal products (PAP).
Canadian Renderers Meet
The Canadian Renderers Association held an in-person
and teleconference meeting in conjunction with the NARA
convention. Several key issues were discussed and a follow-up
with Canadian government officials is planned for
November. At press time, industry-government meetings
do not take place due to the recent federal election but are
expected to resume shortly.
Key subjects for discussion were comments regarding the
modernization of feed regulations. The comment period has
now ended, and industry comments will be published by the
Canadian Food Inspection Agency prior to finalization of the
modernized regulations. It is expected that more flexibility
will be provided to industry with respect to ingredient
approvals and good manufacturing practice once these new
regulations are published.
CFIA will soon publish guidelines that will clarify the current
approach when salmonella positive samples are discovered in
rendered products and feed ingredients. The general approach
is to provide more flexibility for industry to allow reprocessing
and to make sure that both inspection staff and industry
have a common understanding of what is permitted. This is
an evolutionary document in that there are both long- and
short-term issues that industry would like addressed. Current
negotiations have covered some, but not all, of these.
Canada has been granted negligible risk status for bovine
spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) by the World Organization
for Animal Health (OIE) and there is a risk assessment
underway to examine the possible policy changes regarding
specified risk materials (SRM) to closely align with the U.S.
approach. This is a joint initiative of the cattlemen and the
packing industry that is supported by the CRA membership.
African swine fever is a topic of major interest, and an
update was provided on the current state of planning in
case of an outbreak. The rendering industry will likely have a
limited role for destruction and disposal should a welfare cull
of healthy animals be required due to limited surge capacity.
Involvement with infected animals will not be required as
the CFIA does not want to jeopardize either the domestic
or export market for rendered products.
Data collection is currently underway in rendering
operations as a requirement for the formation of an
Establishment Risk Analysis for rendering plants. The
initiative is designed to provide an algorithm based on various
risk factors associated with rendering that will determine the
level of government inspection that an individual rendering
operation will receive. This inspection model has been
developed for the meat processing and feed sectors and
rendering is next on the list.
The meeting provided an opportunity to deliver updates
to CRA members on topics in advance of a proposed industry-government
meeting where more extensive discussion would
take place.
12 December 2021 Render www.rendermagazine.com
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