The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service issued emails Sept. 25 announcing changes 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.
On Sept. 25 the Foreign Agricultural Service issued the following GAIN reports:
France is set to pass a bill banning Bisphenol A (BPA) in food packaging, according to the Foreign Agricultural Service. The law would ban, as of Jan. 1, 2013, production, import, export, and distribution of any food packaging containing BPA. The bill has already been passed by the French National Assembly, and a French Senate committee will begin examining the bill on Oct. 3. A full vote will probably take place on Oct. 15, FAS said. French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault announced that the French government will support final approval of the bill.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service issued emails Sept. 24 announcing changes 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.
On Sept. 24 the Foreign Agricultural Service issued the following GAIN reports:
On Sept. 21 the Foreign Agricultural Service issued the following GAIN reports:
The Codex Committee on Residues of Veterinary Drugs in Foods (CCRVDF) invited member countries and observer organizations to participate in a working group to revise the draft report on performance criteria for multi-residue analytical methods submitted to the 20th CCRVDF for inclusion as an Appendix to the Guidelines for the Design and Implementation of National Regulatory Food Safety Assurance Programmes Associated with the Use of Veterinary Drugs in Food Producing Animals (CAC/GL 71-2009), said the Food Safety and Inspection Service. The working group will also develop a generic validation protocol for these methods for consideration at the next Session of the CCRVDF. The goal of the working group is to have several rounds of comments, with the final document to be circulated by the Codex Secretariat by the end of April 2013. Member countries and observer organizations interested in participating should provide the name(s), official title, and email address of their representative(s) to Dr. Jack Kay (j.kay@vmd.defra.gsi.gov.uk) by Oct. 15.
The Food Safety and Inspection Service announced a public health alert for raw boneless beef trim products imported from Canada after FSIS testing of the product from Canadian Establishment 38, XL Foods, Inc., confirmed the presence of E. Coli on Sept. 3. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency announced a recall of XL Foods’ ground beef products on Sept. 16 after follow-up testing. The recall has since been expanded.
The Food Safety and Inspection Service revised export requirements and plant lists for the following countries for Sept. 14-20.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service issued emails Sept. 20 announcing changes 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.