The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has stopped the import of fresh bell peppers from Spain, as of Dec. 29, because it wants to prevent the Mediterranean fruit fly from spreading in the U.S. In-bond transfers of the peppers are also prohibited, south of 39 degree latitude and west of 104 degrees longitude. Fruit flies were detected during multiple CBP inspections of the subject goods at ports of entry to the U.S.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service announced the 2023 rates it will charge meat and poultry establishments, egg products plants, and importers and exporters for providing voluntary, overtime and holiday inspection and identification, certification and laboratory services. Effective Jan. 1, the agency's base time rate will be $67.12, and its overtime rate $82.80. The 2022 holiday rate will be $98.44, and the laboratory rate will be $87.36. FSIS said the export application fee will be $4.01 per application, unchanged from last year's fee.

USDA and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative are accepting applications for new members to sit on agricultural trade advisory committees, the agencies said this week. Applications are being accepted for six Agricultural Technical Advisory Committees -- covering animals, fruits and vegetables, grains and more -- as well as the Agricultural Policy Advisory Committee, which advises the administration on the implementation and enforcement of trade agreements and trade policy. Members serve four-year terms without compensation. Applications are due by 5 p.m. Jan.31.

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will “effective immediately” allow imports from Canada of breeding water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) and yak (Bos grunniens), APHIS said in an update Dec. 9. An import permit is required, and the shipment “must also be accompanied by a health certificate endorsed by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency,” APHIS said. “The importer/ transporter must contact the Northern Border Port of entry at least 14 days in advance to arrange inspection details if the animals are transported by land,” the agency said.

USDA's Commodity Credit Corporation announced Nov. 25 that Special Import Quota #6 for upland cotton will be established Dec. 1, allowing importation of 10,095,949 kilograms (46,370 bales) of upland cotton, the same as the previous quota period. The quota will apply to upland cotton purchased not later than Feb. 28, 2023, and entered into the U.S. by May 29, 2023. The quota is equivalent to one week's consumption of cotton by domestic mills at the seasonally adjusted average rate for the July through September 2022 period, the most recent three months for which data is available.

USDA's Commodity Credit Corporation announced Nov. 17 that Special Import Quota #5 for upland cotton will be established Nov. 24, allowing importation of 10,095,949 kilograms (46,370 bales) of upland cotton. The quota will apply to upland cotton purchased not later than Feb. 21, 2023, and entered into the U.S. by May 22, 2023. Special Import Quota #4 for upland cotton was announced Nov. 10. Established Nov. 17, the quota will apply to upland cotton purchased not later than Feb. 14, 2023, and entered into the U.S. by May 15, 2023. The allowed amount in the #4 and #5 quotas is down from 12,112,732 kilograms (55,633 bales) in the previous quota period, announced in September (see 2209230020). The quotas are equivalent to one week's consumption of cotton by domestic mills at the seasonally adjusted average rate for the July through September 2022 period, the most recent three months for which data is available.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service will on Feb. 1 begin testing samples it collects of imported ground beef for six Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli that are adulterants (non-O157 STEC: O26, O45, O103, O111, O121 or O145), it said in a notice. Currently, samples are tested for only E. coli O157:H7 and salmonella. FSIS also will expand testing for the six new E. coli strains to various raw beef products at beef producing establishments, it said.

The Agricultural Marketing Service is amending its National List of substances allowed and prohibited in organic products, it said in a notice in the Nov. 14 Federal Register. The final rule allows low-acyl gellan gum, a food additive used as a thickener, gelling agent and stabilizer, as an ingredient in processed organic products. It also allows paper-based crop planting aids for organic crop production, and replaces the term “wood resin” on the National List with the term “wood rosin” to reflect the popular spelling of the substance. The changes take effect Dec. 14.

The Agricultural Marketing Service seeks comments on how it should update Harmonized Tariff Schedule numbers subject to importer assessments under the paper and paper-based packaging marketing order, it said in a notice released Nov. 4. AMS is also proposing to update the marketing order so that changes to tariff schedule numbers can be made more easily in the future. Comments are due Dec. 7.

The Agricultural Marketing Service is reducing rates for assessments on imports of live porcine animals, pork and pork products, it said in a final rule released Nov. 3. Effective Jan. 1, assessments on domestic and imported live porcine animals will decrease to 0.35% of the market value of the animal, from 0.4%. The assessment on imports of pork and pork products will also decrease to between one-hundredth and three-hundredths of a cent per pound, depending on the Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading applicable to the imports. The AMS is also updating the HTS subheading for prepared or preserved pork in its regulations.