In July 2017, FSIS published and requested comment on guidance for importing meat, poultry, and egg products into the United States. FSIS is announcing updates to this guidance and responding to comments received on the guidance. FSIS intends for this guidance to help U.S. importers, customs brokers, official import inspection establishments, and other interested persons understand and comply with FSIS import requirements. The guidance represents current FSIS thinking, and FSIS will update it as necessary to reflect comments received and any additional information that becomes available.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is the public health regulatory agency responsible for ensuring that domestic and imported meat, poultry, and egg products are safe, wholesome, and correctly labeled and packaged. FSIS inspects imported meat, poultry, and egg products under the authority of the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA) (21 U.S.C. 601 et seq.), the Poultry Products Inspection Act (PPIA) (21 U.S.C. 451 et seq.), and the Egg Products Inspection Act (EPIA) (15 U.S.C. 1031 et seq.). Imported meat, poultry, and egg products must originate from eligible countries and from establishments or plants (for egg products) that are certified to export to the United States (21 U.S.C. 620, 466, and 1046). A country becomes eligible following an equivalence determination process completed by FSIS in coordination with the country’s central competent authority (CCA). Foreign establishments or plants become eligible when the CCA certifies to FSIS that the establishments or plants meet requirements that are equivalent to FSIS requirements. All imported shipments of meat, poultry, and egg products must be presented to FSIS for inspection, with certain exceptions, as detailed in the guidance (i.e., a meat, poultry, or dried egg products shipment that does not exceed 50 pounds, or a liquid egg products shipment that does not exceed
Updated Guidance
On July 7, 2017, FSIS announced the availability of and requested comments on import guidance that summarized existing requirements for importing meat, poultry, and egg products into the U.S. and best practices for complying with those requirements (82 FR 31549). FSIS has updated the guidance based on comments received. Specifically, FSIS revised and reorganized a section on industry supply chain best practices; clarified approaches to levels of reinspection; added information about generic labeling approvals, food defense, slaughter dates on import certification, and barcoding; and made minor editorial changes to improve the guidance’s clarity.