Latin American buyers get insight into U.S. pork, beef processing

"It's good to make these relationships," Bruntz said. "Most of these countries represented here are from Mexico down through Central America - good trading partners. You know, if we can't trade with our neighbors, who are we got to trade with? Glad to have them here on the University of Nebraska campus."

The seminar went way beyond the classroom as the buyer teams also took to the meat lab to explore new product development ideas. This was a highlight for Columbian importer Valery Ways.

"We had a workshop where we were presented a problem and we had to develop a strategy and a solution right there and then and get to work," Ways said. "So it was definitely the part that I enjoyed the most, was the workshop, and that really broadened my mind to see what else we can invent, what else we can create to better our customer experience and to better our business as well."

The delegation also made retail visits and toured processing plants operated by Certified Piedmontese and Wholestone Prestage. Chilean importer Jose Manuel Jarpa was already a Wholestone Prestage customer, but the plant tour solidified his confidence in their products.

"We purchased some containers of spareribs from Wholestone like in January this year. We thought that the product was spectacular. It stood for our business like 100%, so today in the visit, I am amazed about this plant. Like this facility is awesome," said Jarpa. "The people working here, the quality of the products, they really have the whole package. So I'm very confident that this commercial relationship with Wholestone through USMEF is going to be long term, and we are really happy that we can work with them."