The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service adopted its interim final rule on imports of horses from contagious equine metritis-affected countries, with changes. The March 25, 2011, interim final rule added a certification requirement for imported horses 731 days of age or less, as well as new testing protocols for test mares and imported stallions and mares more than 731 days of age. This final rule revises some contagious equine metritis testing requirements for imported stallions and mares, and for test mares, that were amended in the interim rule.
The Food Safety and Inspection Service scheduled a teleconference Feb. 7 from 2-3 p.m. ET to discuss the new FSIS policy on entry into commerce for products with test results pending. Beginning Feb. 8, FSIS will not allow meat and poultry products, including imported products, to enter into U.S. commerce until all test results have been received by FSIS. Importers will be able to move products away from the border pending test results as long as the product moves under company seal and does not enter into U.S. commerce. Teleconference participants will be able to ask questions at the end of the call. The call-in number is (888) 858-2144, and the participant past code is 5277207.
On Feb. 6 the Foreign Agricultural Service issued the following GAIN reports:
On Feb. 5 the Foreign Agricultural Service issued the following GAIN reports:
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced changes Feb. 5 to 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.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will allow imports of Litchi (Lychee), Longan, and Rambutan from the Philippines to the continental U.S., after doing a pest risk analysis that found the fruits can be safely imported. Irradiation of the fruits will be required, and they will be subject to inspection on arrival at the U.S. port of entry, APHIS said.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will allow imports of fresh bananas from the Philippines to the continental U.S., effective Feb. 7, with some conditions. The bananas will have to be produced in accordance with a systems approach that will include requirements for importation of commercial consignments, monitoring of fruit flies to establish low-prevalence places of production, harvesting only of hard green bananas, and inspection for quarantine pests by the Filipino national plant protection organization. The bananas will also have to be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate that says they were grown, packed, and inspected and found to be free of quarantine pests in accordance with the requirements.
The Agricultural Marketing Service is proposing to make changes to the National Organic Program’s List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances related to the use of synthetic and nonorganic substances allowed for use in production of organic food production. Proposed amendments would affect the use of peracetic acid, potassium hydroxide and silicon dioxide in organic foods, and would remove nonorganic annatto extract color from the list of nonorganic substances allowed in organic processed products. Comments on the proposed rule are due by March 7.
The Foreign Agricultural Service is asking for comments on potential changes to its dairy tariff-rate quota licensing regime. The agency is considering changing dairy TRQ provisions on license issuance procedures, historical licenses, license fee assessments, and reallocations. Comments are due by April 8.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is proposing to allow imports of several citrus fruits from Uruguay, subject to certain conditions. The proposed rule would allow imports of sweet oranges (Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck), lemons (C. limon (L.) Burm. f.), four types of mandarins (C. reticulata Blanco, C. clementina Hort. ex Tanaka, C. deliciosa Ten., and C. unshiu Marcow), citrus hybrids, and two types of citrus-related fruits (Fortunella. japonica (Thunb.) Swingle, and F. margarita (Lour.) Swingle). The fruit would have to be produced in accordance with a systems approach, including requirements for importation in commercial consignments, pest monitoring and pest control practices, orchard sanitation, and treatment. It would also have to be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate from Uruguay’s national plant protection organization.