Program

 

 

 

 

CERTIFIED NATURAL MEAT PROGRAM FROM URUGUAY

ORIGIN
An increasing demand for food safety, animal welfare and environmental sustainability has shaped the international markets. These aspects will definitely be the main drivers of future meat demand. Therefore, the Uruguayan Beef and Lamb Industry faces the challenge of fulfilling these demand drivers through the competitive advantage of its natural production systems.


OBJECTIVE
In this context, the ?Certified Natural Meat Program of Uruguay? was created by INAC in 2001, in order to increase consumer confidence in meat products from Uruguay, while differentiating and adding value to the meat Industry.


DEFINITION
PCNC is a quality assurance (QA) program for beef and lamb where international certification bodies certify the compliance of a protocol in both the productive and industrial phases.


BASIS OF THE PROTOCOL (see protocol)
The main issues of the protocol: food safety, traceability, animal welfare and environmental sustainability, are expressed in the program claims and considered in the certification process. The natural attributes of Uruguayan Beef and Lamb develop therefore in a ?country brand? for product identification.


CLAIMS:
1. Source verification of animals and products. All cattle can be fully traced from ranch to harvest, fabrication and packaging. Identification of animals is by means of individual plastic eartags.

2. No hormones used. No growth hormones of any kind or equivalent growth promotants have ever been administered to the animals. These are prohibited in the country by national law since 1984.

3. Not fed antibiotics. No sub-therapeutic antibiotics have been fed or administered as a supplement in feed or water for the purpose of growth promotion.

4. No animal proteins in feed. The animals have never been fed proteins of animal origin except maternal milk. The use of animal proteins in feed is prohibited in the country by national law since 1996.

5. Grass fed. All animals in the program have been grown, raised and fattened on a grass diet. Restricted supplementation levels are accepted to support grazing.

6. Animals never confined. Animals have never been confined to yards or feedlots at any time in their lives, and are raised grazing in open pastures year round.


HOW IT WORKS
The Program is integrated by voluntary members (farmers and packers) who wish to join the program for adding value to their products. Independent certification bodies certify that farm and packers are complying with the protocol claims. The certification process goes from production processes down to the cuts, packing and labelling. The "Country Brand" is an intellectual property of the National Meat Institute (INAC) and its use is granted subject to endorsement of the accredited international certifying firm. Such use of the brand doesn't pursue profit.

The following figure is a diagram of how all members of this program are linked to each other.

 


SUMMARY
The Certified Natural Meat Program follows a strict production and processing scheme, accredited by independent international certifying agencies, to produce top quality beef with all the sanitary guarantees, and traceability from the origin, offering thus the safest meat. Uruguay's Certified Natural Meat Program certifies the whole process that renders the meat product all the way through packing and labelling.


USDA Process Verified
Since August 2004, the Certified Natural Meat Program from Uruguay has been officially recognized by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) as complying with the requirements of the USDA Process Verified Program.

The USDA Audit Review and Compliance (ARC) Branch has reviewed the results of the recent audit of the PCNCU, arriving to the conclusion that it has successfully achieved the requirements for being approved.

The information related to the status of the approval is available at the following web site:http://processverified.usda.gov

Uruguayan suppliers met the USDA program requirements in meat quality, animal handling and source verification. Therefore, they became the first international state to enjoy the USDA premium label and join just 16 U.S. companies with a Process Verified certification.(see USDA Certificate)

This certification allows Uruguay to send beef products to the U.S. specially marked as Process Verified and enables the country to make a detailed listing of its meat?s attributes such as antibiotic and hormone free, not fed with animal proteins with ethically treated animals and a traceability system.

It was a very important step in differentiation their brand of beef among other imports to U.S. consumers.

This recognition is the consequence of a hard work that started in May 2003 when negotiations for integrating the Certified Natural Meat Program to a certification program validated by the USDA began.

On May 2004, Uruguay received the visit of U.S. auditors. Four beef farms and two slaughterhouses where successfully audited. After this audit, the USDA made an evaluation of the program and finally they approved on august 2004.