US Urges China to Lift Poultry Import Ban

Written by Tyler R. Etter

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack attended a United States and China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade to raise the issue of China’s ongoing ban on imports of US poultry. The ban was enacted in response to the outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza. The meeting ran from November 21 to 23.

Since no new cases of HPAI have been detected since June 17, Vilsack hoped for China to lower the restrictions on the importation of poultry. Rather than a nationwide ban, Vilsack hoped for restrictions to only be maintained from states or regions where actual infection had occurred. Vilsack commented on the proposal, saying that “International rules suggest a regional approach would be appropriate.”

Before the Joint Commission took place, Vilsack stated that he did not expect the ban to be lifted during the course of the Commission. At the time of this writing, the Commission meeting has concluded, but no information has been released regarding the status of China’s import ban.

FDA Publishes Draft Guidance for Qualified Importer Program

On Thursday June 4, 2015, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released draft guidance outlining the implementation of the Voluntary Qualified Importer Program (VQIP). VQIP is a fee-based program, established by the Food Safety Modernization Act, that expedites the importation process for importers with a proven track record of food safety.

                                       

The aim of the program is to incentivize the adoption of practices that will improve importers’ supply chains and allow the FDA to focus resources to higher risk areas of food safety. The program rewards those importers that have maintained a strong record of food safety and benefits public health by allowing the FDA to shift focus to those importers with poorer track records.

The guidance contains the expected benefits of and the criteria for participation in the program. The document also details the instructions for applying to the program, as well as the scenarios that may result in an importer being removed from the program.

The draft guidance, once finalized, will represent the FDA’s current thoughts on the implementation of the program, and will not create any new binding regulations or duties on the part of the FDA or importers. There is no obligation on the part of an importer to take part in the program, as participation is purely voluntary.

The complete draft guidance is available here. Public comments on the draft are open until August 4, 2015, and can be submitted here.

Written by Tyler R. Etter- Research Assistant

June 9, 2015

USDA Finalizes the Rule of BSE Import Regulation

On November 1st,  the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced a final rule that will modernize the Agency’s import regulations for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).  Once this rule has taken effect, APHIS will use the same criteria and categories that the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) uses to identify a country’s BSE risk status. 

This action will be published in the Federal Register very soon and the rule will become effective 90 days after publication.

Click here to read the USDA press release. 

Written by Joseph Negaard - Research Assistant

The Agricultural Law Resource and Reference Center

@PSUAgLawCenter

November 5, 2013