Florida-based Corte Argentino USA recalls 13.4 tons of Argentine beef over missed reinspection

Argentina says recall stemmed from importer’s administrative error, not food safety issue

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service said the Aug. 11 recall affected 29,628 pounds of beef — equivalent to less than one shipping container — that had been distributed to buyers in Texas and Florida before all required import inspections were completed. The USDA announced the recall publicly on Tuesday.

The Argentine government said the recall “does not involve an issue of food safety, contamination or product quality” but rather resulted from an administrative failure by the importer within the U.S. import process, Argentine Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno wrote on X on Thursday. The Spanish text of Quirno’s post was truncated in the version reproduced by UPI.

The Argentine government said the importing company issued a letter explaining the circumstances and acknowledging that the failure was an administrative error in the United States. The letter was shared with the Meat Import Council of America to inform its members and clarify the circumstances surrounding the recall, Argentine newspaper La Nación reported.

The meat itself was supplied by Argentine meatpacker Gorina, which is not subject to penalties in connection with the recall. Argentine beef exports to the United States continue as usual, President Javier Milei’s government said, and the lapse did not affect the exporting facility or Argentina’s food safety and sanitary control system.

The recall comes amid a sharp increase in Argentine beef exports to the United States. Argentina shipped 55,506 metric tons of beef valued at $448 million from January through June 2026, Argentine newspaper Clarín reported — an increase of 185% in volume and 243% in value compared with the same period in 2025.

Argentina currently holds a quota allowing it to export 100,000 metric tons of beef to the United States at a reduced tariff of $44 per metric ton. The original quota was 20,000 metric tons and was expanded following a decision by President Donald Trump, according to the Argentine government. The expanded agreement has made the United States Argentina’s second-largest buyer of beef, La Nación reported.

The recalled shipment — 13.4 metric tons — represents a small fraction of the 100,000-metric-ton annual quota and an even smaller portion of the 55,506 metric tons shipped in the first half of 2026. The recall’s cause, as both governments characterize it, is the importer’s failure to complete mandatory reinspection before the product left customs, rather than any defect in the product itself.