TEYS Naracoorte processing facility in South Australia has now joined the lengthy list of Australian abattoirs suspended from exporting beef to China.
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The ninth Australian facility to be locked out of the market, the Teys Naracoorte suspension comes with no detail or reasons on China's behalf.
It also comes against a backdrop of no progress towards reinstatement of trade access for the other plants suspended, despite all the necessary paperwork and documentation being with Chinese authorities for some time.
The big meat processing company, Australia's second largest after JBS, confirmed the suspension in a brief statement, saying it would work closely with the Australian export market regulatory bodies to achieve reinstatement of the facility's access to China.
The statement said Teys' Naracoorte facility operates in full compliance with all state and federal, food safety, occupational health and safety and market access regulations, and continues to operate as normal.
It's been a tough month for the plant, which had a large COVID-19 outbreak and was cut off from sending meat to Woolworths for a short period.
Teys Australia has six beef processing plants, three feedlots, two food manufacturing facilities, a hide processing site and a centralised distribution facility along the eastern seaboard. It exports beef to 60 different countries.
The last suspension China leveled on Australian beef operations was in October, when it shut Australian Country Choice's Queensland facility out on claims of a failed random sampling test in frozen product for a drug not prescribed for use in cattle here.
Other plants suspended are situated across Queensland, NSW and Victoria. Technical issues such as labelling and residue detection have been blamed. Those type of issues are generally rectified quickly.
Those suspended, some of them dating back to 2020, have put in place corrective programs which have been audited by Australian authorities and the corresponding report supplied to China but the process of reopening access has stalled at that point.
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Shan Goodwin
Shan Goodwin steers ACM’s national coverage of the beef industry. Shan has worked as a journalist for 30 years, the majority of that with agricultural publications. She spent many years as The Land’s North Coast reporter and has visited beef properties and stations throughout the country and overseas. She treats all breeds equally. Contact 0427686187. E: s.goodwin@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Shan Goodwin steers ACM’s national coverage of the beef industry. Shan has worked as a journalist for 30 years, the majority of that with agricultural publications. She spent many years as The Land’s North Coast reporter and has visited beef properties and stations throughout the country and overseas. She treats all breeds equally. Contact 0427686187. E: s.goodwin@austcommunitymedia.com.au
