USA are importing black pigs from Portugal to produce ″ Iberian ham ″

The Ministry of Agriculture guaranteed this Thursday that it will not abdicate the defense of national products and producers, noting that it is following the alleged abuse of Iberian pork and ham in the USA, already contested by farmers.

“The Ministry of Agriculture does not give up the defense of national products and their producers”, guaranteed the Government, in response to Lusa. At issue is the import, by two North American companies, of black pigs from the Iberian Peninsula to manufacture, in the North American states of Texas and Georgia, what they call “American Iberian ham”. The ministry under the tutelage of Maria do Céu Antunes said that there are community regulations that “protect and defend national and European producers”, ensuring that it is “following the process”.

The National Confederations of Agriculture (CNA) and Portuguese Farmers (CAP) defended this Thursday the intervention of the Portuguese and Spanish governments and the European Union in the protection of Iberian pork and ham, to confirm the abusive use of these denominations in USA. Speaking to the Lusa agency, CNA leader João Dinis considered that, “to confirm this trafficking that adulterates at the origin a product of recognized quality – the Iberian pig, an indigenous breed, and its derivatives, particularly ham – – it’s another bad consequence of the system “.

“It is a situation that needs to be prevented and into which the Portuguese and Spanish governments and the European Union must immediately converge. [UE], to take measures to prevent another traffic that threatens national production and Iberian production and a brand so appreciated and that must be certified: the Iberian pig and its derivative ham “, he maintained.

Also for the secretary general of the Confederation of Portuguese Farmers (CAP), Luís Mira, it is not the fact that Iberian black pigs are exported to the USA that will replace the native production of this animal and its derivatives. “They can take black pigs to the USA or wherever they want. But that was the same thing as taking Champagne grape varieties or Port wine and saying it is wine made in the USA. They can make a sausage or whatever. American ham, but it is never an Iberian acorn ham, because that is a designation of origin that is protected “, he said in statements to Lusa.

According to the British newspaper “The Guardian”, the initiative to produce Iberian ham in the USA came from the North American companies Acornseekers, in Flatonia, Texas, and Iberian Pastures, in the state of Georgia, the first belonging to two Spaniards and the second to a Hispanic-American. These two companies decided to start importing Iberian black pigs to the USA, with the aim of making their own “American Iberian ham”.

“Their game involves accessing the American market with better conditions and prices than Spanish producers”, considered the ham industry consultant Constantino Martínez, quoted by the British daily, anticipating that “they will then start exporting to America Latin America and Asia, where Iberian ham is very popular “.

Constantino Martínez accused the Spanish Government of inaction, by allowing the export of native black pigs to the USA, and highlights that changing the diet of these animals – as it claims that these companies are doing, feeding them with local products such as peanuts, pecans and sunflower seeds – will change the flavor of the meat.

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