US group warns vs pork jowl tariff shift

MANILA, Philippines — AAn industry association in the United States is urging Philippine officials to keep the tariff classification of pork jowls as edible offal, warning that any reclassification would run counter to international standards.

In a position paper to the Tariff Commission (TC), the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC), a group representing the US pork industry, said removing the jowl from the head does not change the jowl’s anatomical origin.

READ: Meat traders buck plan to raise pork jowl tariffs

The Department of Agriculture (DA) proposed reclassifying pork jowls, taken from the pig’s head, as meat of swine so they can be subject to higher tariff rates and importation controls.

The agency said it has become a major import item because of lower tariff treatment and directly competes with locally produced pork.

However, NPPC argued that any classification change inconsistent with the World Customs Organization (WCO) could alter tariff treatment.

“Treating the intact swine head as offal while treating a portion cut from that same head as conventional muscle meat would create a distinction based principally on where the product was separated, rather than what the product is,” the American industry group said.

NPPC cited certain global regulatory precedents to support its opposition to the DA’s proposal to reclassify pork jowls.

In December last year, the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) overturned a 1991 ruling that had categorized fresh and frozen pork jowls as meat of swine.

Citing the CBP’s decision, the group said pork jowls are cuts from the swine head, as outlined in the WCO’s explanatory notes, which treat “heads and cuts thereof” as edible offal.

READ: DA pushes higher tariffs on select meat products

It also mentioned the European Union’s recent customs practice, including Germany’s move to classify frozen beef cheeks derived from the head or cheek area as edible offal and parts of heads.

“The EU interpretation did not treat removal of the cheek from the head as transforming it into conventional muscle meat,” NPPC said.

Any change to the tariff category of pork jowls must rest on a specific, compelling interpretation of the Harmonized System—not merely on separating the jowl from the head. /pai