Off the wire
• Sri Lanka remains vigilant of emerging security threats, says top defence official  • Life in Gaza could become unattainable in next five years: report  • Lithuanian prisons face countrywide hunger strike  • Macao to issue stamps marking 70th anniv. of V-Day  • Nigeria pledges to eradicate oil theft in 8 months  • Interview: Tibetan changes impressive: senior Swiss journalist  • 12-year-old Ukrainian wins int'l children's painting competition for Europe  • Bangladesh customs seizes powdered cocaine weighing 2 kg  • AU says verifying number of casualties after base attack in Somalia  • U.S. manufacturing activity expands at slowest pace since May 2013  
You are here: 　 Home

Lithuania officially eligible for meat exports to U.S.

Xinhua, September 2, 2015 Adjust font size:

Lithuania will be able to export its meat products to the United States as of Oct. 30, the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced Tuesday.

The ministry received corresponding announcement from the United States on Aug. 31, which officially claims that Lithuania is on the list of countries eligible to export meat and meat products to the country.

Lithuanian meat exporters willing to cooperate with U.S. markets have to harmonize labeling of their production according to U.S. rules, the ministry said in a statement.

"We have managed to concentrate efforts of all responsible Lithuanian institutions to achieve this result; this issue and receiving of exports permission is even more important due to Russia's embargo on imports," Linas Linkevicius, Lithuania's Minister of Foreign Affairs, was quoted as saying in the statement.

In the words of the minister, now Lithuanian companies should strengthen their business contacts with U.S. importers.

The achieved result is significant, since Lithuania is one of the first member states of the European Union (EU) to agree on exports in its broadest sense, the ministry also said.

According to the statement, Lithuania is the first in the EU to receive permission to export sheep and goat meat and the second to export beef and its products to the United States.

Ireland has been the only country in the EU allowed exporting beef to the United States since bovine spongiform encephalopathy struck Europe in 1999.

The U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Service reviewed Lithuania's laws, regulations, and inspection system, and has determined that they are equivalent to the U.S. food safety regulations.

Meat from cattle, sheep, swine, and goats slaughtered in Lithuania, or processed in certified Lithuanian establishments, will be eligible for export to the United States.

Negotiations with the U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Service on the export permit for Lithuania started in 2004 and were completed at the end of last year.

Lithuania's overall exports to the United States amounted to 886.4 million euros (1 billion U.S. dollars) in 2014, Lithuania Statistics data shows. The United States ranks 10th in the list of the largest Lithuania's export partners. Enditem