FORT LEE, Va. – Commissary
shoppers in Korea will begin to see uncooked poultry products such as eggs,
frozen chicken breasts, thighs, wings and whole chickens from the U.S. back on
commissary shelves in February.
This news comes as a result
of changes to Korea’s year-long poultry embargo that had restricted the entry
of U.S. poultry.
During the embargo,
commissaries had been selling uncooked fresh poultry and eggs from local
sources in Korea and uncooked frozen poultry from a source in Australia to meet
the demands of customers. This change will allow commissaries to stock a full
array of both cooked and uncooked products from the U.S., just as they had
prior to the December 2014 embargo.
“This is welcome news for
everyone associated with commissaries – customer and employees alike,” said
Wayne Walk, DeCA’s zone manager in Korea. “We’re working with our suppliers now
to meet the requirements of the embargo and get thighs, breasts, wings, whole
chickens, eggs and other uncooked poultry products into stores by February. As
with any embargo the return to normal product availability from various
suppliers will take time.”
Commissaries will continue
to carry eggs and fresh chicken products from local sources in Korea.
“We worked continuously
throughout the embargo to provide our customers with the best service and
product assortment possible,” said Walk. “We’re happy we can now return to a
more business as usual environment.”