Superior quality beef

“High Quality Beef”

​

What is it?

It is a quota for high-quality, fresh, chilled beef from animals with specific characteristics, allocated by Europe, and available to suppliers from countries approved by the European Commission. Currently, these countries are: the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Uruguay, and Argentina.

Cuts that enter within the quota have 0% import tariffs.

The quota has been increasingly allocated to the USA, so each of the other eligible countries competes on quality and price, and European importers decide who to buy from.

 

What characteristics should the animals that make up the contingent have?

The cuts of beef included in the shipment must come from animals with the following characteristics:

• Heifers (females that have not given birth) or steers (castrated males).

• Children under 30 months – Up to two permanent incisor teeth (verification at the cold storage plant).

• For at least 100 days prior to slaughter, they must be fed only rations that meet the following parameters:

  • Not less than 62% on a dry matter basis of cereal concentrates and/or co-products

  • With a metabolizable energy content equal to or greater than 12.26 MJoules per kilogram of dry matter (2.93 MCal/Kg DM).

  • Daily consumption not less than 1.4% of its live weight in dry matter.