This week’s audio report from the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) discusses the importance of diversifying international destinations for beef livers and variety meat, and why it has become a priority for the U.S. beef industry.

Creating markets for these products can add significant value to U.S. cattle and bolster returns for producers, and Dan Halstrom, USMEF senior vice president for marketing, explains in the audio report that it is becoming increasingly important to grow demand for variety meats in alternative markets, such as Mexico, Central and South America and Sub-Saharan Africa, in order to ensure a sustained international demand for those products.

“We really need to diversify the customer base on livers and some of the other offals, and part of the reason its become such an issue is that, when we lost access to Russia three years ago, we lost one of our major destination for liver,” said Halstrom. “It doesn’t look like we’re going to regain access to Russia anytime soon, so it’s definitely an opportunity to work on a lot of these other emerging regions.”

The report also features Sami Rizk, President of Atlanta-based Mirasco, Inc., a major exporter of beef livers and other variety meat. In the report, Rizk discusses the success he has achieved through marketing beef liver sandwiches as a street food item in Egypt, and how he believes the success can be replicated in several Central and South American countries.

Listen to the full report here:
USMEF Report on Diversifying Variety Meats