MPPTA Technical Support

Opportunity Awaits in Ethnic Marketplace

With a bit of extra time on my hands last week, I popped by an H-Mart store in my Denver-area suburb to take a look around.

For those unfamiliar, H-Mart is a Korean-based grocery chain that operates large-footprint stores across the United States. They focus on ethnic diets, with perishable sections and grocery aisles stocked with items you won’t find at Kroger or Walmart. Taro root and rambutan (whatever that is) are interspersed with lettuce and cucumbers in the produce section. The seafood section includes a live lobster tank and a counter where customers can scoop fresh squid and octopus.

Technical Assistance for Meat & Poultry…and Catfish?

We’ve been operating at the Meat and Poultry Processing Technical Assistance Program since March 2022. Describing our work as Meat and Poultry…and Catfish Technical Assistance may be more accurate.

About 20 years ago, when imported catfish-like products undercut domestic catfish producers, the sector successfully petitioned Congress to declare catfish as an Amenable Species. That brought catfish under USDA jurisdiction, and today it is still the only aquatic species processed under FSIS inspection.