USDA Clarifies Reporting Requirements for Certain Beef, Pork Exports

The U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a final rule clarifying requirements for reporting exports of beef and pork under the Export Sales Reporting Program, USDA said Nov. 25. The rule clarifies that certain “muscle cuts” of beef and pork include “whole carcasses, whether divided in half or further subdivided into individual primals, sub-primals, or fabricated cuts, with or without bone.” The total weight reported may include “minor nonreportable items,” USDA said. Meats removed during the “conversion of an animal to a carcass” are not muscle cuts, “nor are items sold as bones practically free of meat,” the agency said.