On April 26, 2012, the Food and Drug Administration posted new and revised versions of the following Import Alerts on the detention without physical examination of:
The Food and Drug Administration announced that Café-Tasse S.A. is voluntarily recalling its 1.58 oz. Café-Tasse Noir (Dark) Belgian chocolate bar with best before date of “15 SEPT 2013” because it may contain undeclared traces of milk. No illnesses have been reported to date.
On April 26, 2012, the Foreign Agricultural Service issued the following GAIN reports:
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service issued emails April 26, 2012, announcing changes to some 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.
The Food Safety and Inspection Service recently revised export requirements and plant lists for the following countries:
Sysco Seattle Inc. is recalling about 16,800 pounds of ground beef patties imported from Canada because they may have been contaminated with E. coli O157:H7, the Food Safety and Inspection Service announced. The Imported products were produced by New Food Classics of Burlington, Ontario and were imported by Sysco Seattle Inc., for distribution to restaurants in Arizona, Colorado, Texas and Washington.
The Bureau of Industry and Security issued a final rule, effective April 27, 2012, which amends the Export Administration Regulations by adding to the Entity List1, 16 persons under 18 entries for the countries of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the United Arab Emirates.
The Court of International Trade found that there is no regulation, statute, or practice establishing a time limit for interested party submissions that rebut information that the International Trade Administration places on the record, and consequently remanded the ITA's decision to reject as untimely plaintiffs’ rebuttal of data that the ITA had placed on the record in a new shipper review of honey from China (A-570-863).
Seven stolen and looted, and illegally imported objects of Italian cultural heritage will soon be on their way back to Italy, according to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. The U.S. and Italy negotiated an agreement in 2001 prohibiting the import of certain Italian archaeological material into the U.S. without proper export documents.
The Bureau of Industry and Security announced that Ping Cheng and Prime Technology Corporation, both of New York State, have agreed to $125,000 fines and two-year denial of export privileges for each to settle allegations that they conspired to violate the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). The two-year denial period, as well as $75,000 in fines for each, will be suspended as long as neither commits additional export control violations during the two year period. According to BIS, the violations involve attempts to export carbon fiber to China for use by the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) without the required U.S. government authorizations.