The Food and Drug Administration and the Agricultural Marketing Service aligned food safety oversight programs in order to "streamline produce safety requirements for farmers," the FDA said in a recent news release. AMS will align its Harmonized Good Agricultural Practices Audit Program with the FDA's Produce Safety Rule (see 1511170024). "While the requirements of both programs are not identical, the relevant technical components in the FDA Produce Safety Rule are covered in the USDA H-GAP Audit Program," FDA said. The audit program "is a collaborative effort on the part of growers, shippers, produce buyers, audit organizations and government agencies," it said. The audits "are not a substitute for FDA or state regulatory inspections" but "will help farmers by enabling them to assess their food safety practices as they prepare to comply with the Produce Safety Rule," FDA said. The AMS also released a list of frequently asked questions on the alignment.
The Agricultural Marketing Service finalized changes to its regulations to provide for electronic submission of inspection applications for imports subject to federal marketing orders, it said in a final rule. The final rule is the same as the interim final rule the AMS issued in 2016 (see 1612200032), it said. Imports of commodities regulated under marketing orders are prohibited unless they meet comparable grade, size, quality or maturity requirements as those in effect for domestically produced commodities. The final rule allows submission of the information required in AMS form SC-357, “Initial Inspection Request for Regulated Imported Commodities,” via the International Trade Data System, AMS said. The rule takes effect June 13.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced it has found Japan to be free of classical
swine fever and swine vesicular disease. The change in disease status, which eliminates certain requirements for importation of live swine, pork and pork products from Japan, takes effect July 9.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will allow imports of tree tomatoes from Ecuador, it said in final rule. To be eligible, tree tomatoes from Ecuador would have to be “produced in accordance with a systems approach that would include requirements for importation in commercial consignments, registration and monitoring of places of production, field monitoring and pest-control practices, trapping, and inspection for quarantine pests by the national plant protection organization of Ecuador,” APHIS said. The final rule takes effect July 5.
The Department of Agriculture's Commodity Credit Corporation on May 31 announced Special Import Quota #6 for upland cotton will be established on June 7, allowing importation of 13,123,605 kilograms (60,276 bales) of upland cotton. It will apply to upland cotton purchased not later than Sept. 4, 2018, and entered into the U.S. by Dec. 3, 2018. The quota is equivalent to one week's consumption of cotton by domestic mills at the seasonally adjusted average rate for the period January 2018 through March 2018, the most recent three months for which data is available.
The Food Safety and Inspection Service is amending its meat inspection regulations to remove requirements for pork to be treated to destroy trichinae, it said in a final rule. The change applies to both ready-to-eat and non-ready-to-eat pork and pork products, it said. The regulations conflict with FSIS’s hazard analysis and critical control point regulations and are also no longer necessary, FSIS said. In the same final rule, FSIS is also “consolidating the regulations on thermally processed, commercially sterile meat and poultry products (i.e., canned food products containing meat or poultry),” it said. The changes take effect July 30.
The Department of Agriculture's Commodity Credit Corporation on May 24 announced Special Import Quota #5 for upland cotton will be established on May 31, allowing importation of 13,123,605 kilograms (60,276 bales) of upland cotton. It will apply to upland cotton purchased not later than Aug. 28, 2018, and entered into the U.S. by Nov. 26, 2018. The quota is equivalent to one week's consumption of cotton by domestic mills at the seasonally adjusted average rate for the period January 2018 through March 2018, the most recent three months for which data is available.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will allow imports of human medical devices containing animal-derived ingredients without requiring an APHIS import permit, it said in a stakeholder import alert. “An APHIS import permit (VS Form 16-6), will no longer be required for FDA approved human medical devices containing animal origin ingredients, when the devices are in final dosage form and ready for use (in bulk form or single packaged),” APHIS said. The new policy takes effect May 31.
The Department of Agriculture's Commodity Credit Corporation on May 17 announced Special Import Quota #4 for upland cotton will be established on May 24, allowing importation of 13,123,605 kilograms (60,276 bales) of upland cotton. It will apply to upland cotton purchased not later than Aug. 21, 2018, and entered into the U.S. by Nov. 19, 2018. The quota is equivalent to one week's consumption of cotton by domestic mills at the seasonally adjusted average rate for the period January 2018 through March 2018, the most recent three months for which data is available.
The Agricultural Marketing Service will not create a new research, promotion and information order for organic products, it said in a notice ending a rulemaking process that began in January 2017. "Based on uncertain industry support for and outstanding substantive issues with the proposed program, USDA is terminating the proceeding," AMS said. The proposed rule would have included an assessment on importers of 0.1% of transaction value for certified organic imports valued over $250,000 per year (see 1701170017).