Last year, producers in Nebraska and Iowa called the new rules confusing, and worried that one animal in violation of the Japanese regulations could imperil the lucrative Japanese market.
``A lot of that had to do with not knowing what those rules and regulations were,'' said Bill Luckey, a hog producer in Columbus, Neb., who raises 1,500 of his own hogs and 2,000 more for another operation.
But once information about the rules became clear, ``we realized it wasn't too big a deal,'' Luckey said of producers in Nebraska, where pork is the fourth-largest agricultural commodity.
``I don't want to say it was not eventful, but it was not near as drastic as we thought it could be,'' he said.
Japanese monitoring programs show there haven't been any violations of the rules for U.S. pork, said Paul Sundberg, the National Pork Board's vice president of science and technology.
The new rules, which went into effect last May, changed maximum residue limits on all food products for 799 feed additives, veterinary drugs and agriculture chemicals. Some producers had to stop giving hogs these additives for a longer time before slaughter to meet new limits.
Producers, veterinarians and state pork boards worked quickly to get the word out before the changes took effect, said Kevin Smith, assistant director of export services with the Meat Export Federation.
The result: A smooth transition from Japan's old standards, which limited only 293 substances.
``It showed the industry has the ability to communicate and provide information,'' Smith said.
Gene Ver Steeg, who was president of the Iowa Pork Producers Association until January, said the organization faced some difficulties getting information from additive manufacturers to ensure producers knew when to stop giving hogs the substances. Once that was available, producers were quick to adjust.
``I feel quite good about the fact there weren't violations,'' said Ver Steeg, who ships 18,000 hogs a year. ``They needed our pork, and we needed them to buy it.''
Japan bought nearly 744 million pounds of U.S. pork last year — about 27 percent of all U.S. pork exports — worth more than $1 billion, according to the U.S. Meat Export Federation.
Pork exports have been on the rise for 16 years, with huge increases in U.S. exports to Japan in 2005 and 2006, partly because of the decreased beef trade.
``Initially, there was probably a clear advantage for pork as a substitute,'' said Lynn Heinze, a spokeswoman for the export federation.
