First U.S. Beef Air Shipment to China Left Wednesday

Yesterday marked the first time in 14 years that U.S. beef has shipped to China. Nebraska's Greater Omaha Packing sent U.S. beef by air freight to a customer in Shanghai.

USDA Agricultural Marketing Service Deputy Administrator Craig Morris says this is an exciting market opportunity

Morris: "We absolutely have — what we believe is — the best protocol or the best deal with China of any of the countries that ship beef into that market. We are very fortunate that chilled beef in addition to frozen will be able to go. So we will have a very high quality product there."

He lists some of the eligible beef products for the Chinese market.

Morris: "A whole host of different variety meats as well as bone-in and boneless cuts are approved. A lot of things that we know are popular in China that aren't as popular here in the U.S. — like beef tongue or beef hearts, cheek meat, are going to be able to flow into that market and help bring returns for U.S. producers.

He continues with some additional U.S. beef products that promise to be popular in China.

Morris: "We're allowed to ship in things like scalded or heat-treated, or even smoked variety meats or tripe that we produce here in the United States that need homes and markets — those will be able to go into the Chinese market as well."