Author of this post Dana Coale is the AMS Dairy Programs Deputy Administrator. Follow the USDA blog at: http://blogs.usda.gov Last year marked the first time in U.S. history that our dairy farmers produced more than 200 billion pounds of milk. This was the highest year over year increase since 2004-2005 and a 5.7 billion pound increase from the previous year. In recent years, more than two-thirds of the growing demand for U.S. farm milk has been for dairy exports.
To help meet this demand, USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) Dairy Grading Branch offers many vital services for exporters shipping products from US approved production facilities.
One of these services is issuing export health/sanitary certificates, which are required for the import of US dairy products into most countries.
An AMS health/sanitary certificate verifies the health of animals and products and assures the sanitary conditions of the plants or facilities where they were processed. Our certificates help the nation’s dairy producers and manufacturers reach large markets like China, which imported more than $430 million worth of U.S. dairy products in 2012.
In order to get a certificate, exporters and manufacturers submit paperwork to AMS. If approved, they can receive a certificate in just three to five business days. We currently issue dairy export certificates for U.S. trade into 104 countries. Last year, more than 26,000 export certificates were issued.
The U.S. dairy industry faced a challenge in 2010 when access to the China market was threatened. PD
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