USDA inspectors are scheduled to visit China soon to inspect poultry processing plants to verify Chinese claims that several of its chicken-processing plants meet U.S. food safety standards, USDA said.

Although the People’s Republic of China has wanted to sell its chicken products in the United States since 2006,  China is currently not allowed to import chicken into the United States because of past food safety concerns, avian influenza outbreaks, and previous U.S. congressional opposition.  The country is interested in both processing U.S.-raised birds and exporting the meat and processing and exporting Chinese-raised chickens.

The USDA inspections are the result of seven years of negotiations between the United States and China. U.S. officials will first consider approving the import of chicken from U.S.-raised birds that are processed overseas, and the turn to chicken produced and processed in China, USDA officials said this week.  It will be at least a year before USDA will  be able to clear China to export domestically raised chicken, USDA said. At this point, China is only approved to export chicken in the form of pet food to the United States.

The prohibition on Chinese chicken has long been a thorn in U.S.-China trade relations.  Some believe that resolving the Chinese chicken issues could help to get China to soften its barriers to U.S. agricultural goods.  U.S. agriculture exports to China, such as soybeans, have soared in recent years, but meat products have not fared as well.  China currently has high tariffs on U.S. chicken, and U.S. beef has been banned since 2003, after bovine spongiform encephalopathy (“mad cow” disease) was detected in a U.S. cow.