The U.S. Department of Agriculture is soliciting nominations for membership on the National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection (NACMPI), which provides advice and recommendations to the Secretary of Agriculture on meat and poultry inspection programs. NACMPI has up to 20 members, and each selection is for a 2-year term. Nominations, including a cover letter to the Secretary, the nominee’s typed resume or curriculum vitae, and a completed USDA Advisory Committee Membership Background Information form AD-755, must be received by June 20, 2012.
Brian Feito
Brian Feito is Managing Editor of International Trade Today, Export Compliance Daily and Trade Law Daily. A licensed customs broker who spent time at the Department of Commerce calculating antidumping and countervailing duties, Brian covers a wide range of subjects including customs and trade-facing product regulation, the courts, antidumping and countervailing duties and Mexico and the European Union. Brian is a graduate of the University of Florida and George Mason University. He joined the staff of Warren Communications News in 2012.
An upstate New York man was sentenced May 16 to three years probation and ordered to pay restitution of $13,377 for importing counterfeit Viagra and Cialis tablets into the U.S., said Immigration and Customs Enforcement. According to court documents, between January and June 2011, Curtis Henry, 53, of Rochester, ordered more than 700 counterfeit Viagra and Cialis tablets from a source in China. After receiving the counterfeit pharmaceutical tablets, Henry sold them in Rochester. This investigation was done by ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages from the International Trade Administration posted to U.S. Customs and Border Protection's web site as of May 18, 2012, along with the case number(s) and CBP message number, is provided below. The messages are available by searching on the listed CBP message number at http://addcvd.cbp.gov. (CBP occasionally adds backdated messages without otherwise indicating which message was added. ITT will include a message date in parentheses in such cases.)
On May 18, 2012, the Food and Drug Administration posted new and revised versions of the following Import Alerts on the detention without physical examination of:
The International Trade Administration published notices in the May 21, 2012, Federal Register on the following AD/CV proceedings (any notices that announce changes to AD/CV duty rates, the scope, affected firms, or effective dates will be detailed in another ITT article):
The Commerce Department said 41 companies and organizations are recipients of the 2012 President’s “E” Award, the highest U.S. government recognition a U.S. entity may receive for supporting export activity. The “E” Award recipients are contributors to the President’s National Export Initiative (NEI) goal of doubling U.S. exports by 2015.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service issued emails May 18, 2012, announcing changes to some Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) electronic manuals. While some changes are minor, other changes may affect the admissibility of the plant products, including fruits, vegetables, and flowers.
On May 18, 2012, the Foreign Agricultural Service issued the following GAIN reports:
River Ranch Fresh Foods, LLC of Salinas, CA recalled retail and food service bagged salads, because they have the potential of being contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes following routine random retail salad finished product tests conducted in the marketplace by the Food and Drug Administration, said the FDA. Retail salad products under this recall were distributed in the U.S. and Canada under various sizes and packaged under the brand names of River Ranch, Farm Stand, Hy-Vee, Marketside, Shurfresh, and The Farmer’s Market. Food service salad products under this recall were distributed in the U.S. and Canada under various sizes and packaged under the brand names of River Ranch, Cross Valley, Fresh n Easy, Promark, and Sysco.
The Animal Plant Health Inspection Service is tracing 10-12 potential birth cohort cattle of the dairy cow that was confirmed positive for Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) (commonly known as mad cow disease), it said in an update May 18. APHIS also said samples of the BSE-positive dairy cow were sent to The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) reference laboratories in Canada and England. Both laboratories have confirmed that the index cow was positive for atypical (L-type) BSE, according to APHIS.