Background

Meat Exports to the Philippines

The Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service has announced that, starting May 19, all FSIS meat and poultry product export certificates for products exported to the Philippines (except casings and egg products) will be generated, issued, and officially maintained in FSIS’ Public Health Information System. All export certificates (FSIS Form 9060-5 series) generated through PHIS will be digitally signed by FSIS and printed on plain paper by industry personnel with PHIS access. These forms must include the PHIS-generated watermark.

Poultry Imports

Effective Feb. 10, the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has imposed the following restrictions on the importation of poultry and related products from Bosnia and Herzegovina due to concerns about highly-pathogenic avian influenza.

- Importation of poultry, commercial birds, ratites, and avian hatching eggs is prohibited.

- Importation of processed avian products and byproducts (including eggs and egg products), arriving as cargo, must be accompanied by a USDA import permit and/or government certification confirming that the goods were treated in accordance with APHIS requirements. 

- Importation of unprocessed avian products and byproducts (including eggs and egg products and meat), arriving as cargo, is generally prohibited, but in some cases these products can be imported if consigned directly from the port of arrival to an eligible USDA-approved establishment. 

- Importation of fresh, unprocessed shell/table eggs and egg products, void of the shell (e.g., liquid eggs and dried egg whites), arriving as cargo, is prohibited unless they are consigned from the port of arrival directly to an APHIS-approved breaking and pasteurization facility. An import permit and/or certificate is not required in such cases.

Similar restrictions on imports originating from or transiting zone PCZ-261 in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, were imposed Feb. 12

Separately, effective Feb. 18 APHIS has removed restrictions on imports of poultry and related products originating from or transiting zone PCZ-252 in Ontario, Canada, or Ibaraki prefecture in Japan.

Pineapple Imports

APHIS is accepting comments through March 20 on a draft pest risk assessment regarding a request to revisit U.S. import requirements for the shipping of fresh pineapple fruits from Thailand. APHIS granted Thailand market access for fresh pineapple in 2007 subject to certain pest mitigation measures for four arthropod pests that were recently reclassified as non-quarantine for the U.S.

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