The Gulf Standards Organisation (GSO) of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has published a technical regulation that recognises extended shelf-life for chilled vacuum-packed red meat. This recommends that all GCC members bring their regulations for the shelf-life of chilled, vacuum-packed red meat into alignment. The GCC is a cooperative (bloc) of six Middle Eastern countries: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The GCC's recently published technical regulation recommends the shelf-life for Australia's chilled vacuum-packed beef and buffalo meat be extended to 120 days, and 90 days for sheepmeat and goatmeat. These dates are determined from slaughtering date. If accepted, it will align Qatar's shelf-life for chilled beef and Oman's for chilled sheepmeat and goatmeat with other GCC's members (Table 1). The UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait had already extended their individual shelf-life requirements for Australia's chilled, vacuum-packed red meat.
The new regulation also allows for flexibility in packaging. Previously, chilled beef needed to be packed under a modified atmosphere, an expensive practice that is not commonly used by Australian industry.
Implications for Australian red meat exporters
This recommendation across the GCC bloc provides Australian exporters with greater flexibility to supply high quality and competitive red meat products to these markets.
Extended shelf-life for vacuum-packed meat reduces freight costs by enabling Australian chilled meat to be shipped via sea rather than air. Depending on the destination and consignment weight, air freight can be 5-10 times more expensive than sea freight. Longer shelf-life also allows products to remain on sale for longer. This leads to reduced wastage and higher returns for retailers.
Having a common regulation requirement across the GCC bloc will reduce documentation requirements and costs for Australian red meat exporters to these markets.
Producers and exporters can contact their Middle Eastern importers to explore potential opportunities for meat exports to GCC countries. They should also continue to monitor the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry's Manual of Importing Country Requirements (Micor) and can log in to view Market Access Advice notices for further updates to shelf-life regulations.