BY CDFA Secretary Karen Ross
Our last two days in Jakarta included “first ever” experiences for me! In addition to informative meetings with two industry groups — the Global Food and Beverage Association and the U.S. Soybean Export Council — we traveled outside of the city to watch the filming of an Indonesia “Master Chef” episode featuring Nebraska beef with ranch couple Matt and Audra Allen from Arthur NE, and Professor Chris Calkins, an international expert on beef quality whose work has led to new cuts of meat, including the very much in demand flat iron steak. He recently retired from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln after more than 40 years.
We also participated in a CA Milk Advisory Board “Real California Milk” exclusive CA cheese tasting event with Chef Barbara Alexander, a consulting chef for the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in the Napa Valley. Approximately 25 social media influencers and media representatives were in attendance and most were posting on Instagram throughout the event! The chef’s cooking demonstration featured five delicious and easy to prepare dishes that ended with each participant creating their own cheese tray from a beautiful assortment of CA cheeses, dried fruits and tree nuts with local honey comb and jams. Our team selected the winners of best presentation cheese trays.
The USDA’s Foreign Ag Service worked hard to make both of these novel events happen as a way to introduce U.S. products and show how they can be integrated into traditional Indonesian menus. My colleagues came up with lots of fun content to pitch to Master Chef producers to feature the U.S. ag products we are so proud to share with the world!! Along those lines, I was thrilled to meet Douglas Lim of his family’s importing company, Pandu Rasa, at a reception last week. He had been in California three weeks ago on a visit sponsored by our western regional association, WUSATA.
Our two ag industry meetings reinforced how important it is to “show up” and take the time to understand the country, its culture, and its regulatory system. We spent a great deal of time in our discussions to gain greater clarity on new Halal certification and labeling requirements that will take effect in October 2024. I am very fortunate to have traveled with this great group of colleagues and to have the opportunity to meet so many warm and welcoming Indonesians!
My experience last week reinforced for me the critical importance of hosting importers, chefs, and government regulatory officials on inbound missions so they visit our farms, processing plants, and our state labs to better understand the great care for food safety and the high quality of our CA GROWN products for consumers around the world.
