China suspends more US beef exporters over ractopamine

Another US-based beef product supplier has been suspended from selling their goods to China after the country’s port authority detected an illegal element in a recent shipment.

The export licence of CS Beef Packers LLC was revoked by China’s General Administration of Customs (GACC) this Thursday as ractopamine was found in one of the frozen beef shipments from the company, triggering a violation of China’s food safety law.

“This company has been suspended from declaring beef imports into China starting from October 27,” said GACC in an official statement.

China banned ractopamine over a decade ago, but it continued to be detected in shipments in recent years. Several exporters in the US have been suspended this year because of this issue.

Nevertheless, beef imports into China were unaffected by these suspensions. China has imported 1.94 million tons of beef between January and September this year, up more than 11% from the same period last year.

Brazil has been the dominant supplier to China, shipping nearly 736,000 tons this year so far. United States is the fourth largest beef exporter to China with an export volume of 130,533 tons between January and September this year.