USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is considering removing a requirement that horses imported to the U.S. must be accompanied by documentation proving that a pre-export examination, "endorsed by a salaried veterinary medical officer," has occurred within 48 hours of departure from the port of embarkation, according to a Federal Register notice.

USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is updating regulations on the movement of certain genetically modified organisms issued under the authority of the Plant Protection Act, according to a Federal Register notice. The update will amend the regulations to account for a federal court's December vacatur of a May 2020 rule revising APHIS' regulations on moving genetically modified organisms. The rule is effective June 16.

USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said El Salvador and Belize have been added to the list of regions it considers to be affected by the screwworm pest, according to a Federal Register notice released June 12. Their inclusions were effective Dec. 17, 2024, and Jan. 7, 2025, respectively.

Stephen Vaden, current judge on the Court of International Trade, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as deputy secretary of agriculture. The Senate confirmed Vaden with a 51-44 vote split exactly down party lines. Five senators -- Ted Budd, R-N.C., Jon Ossoff, R-Ga., Thom Tillis R-N.C., Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., and Jack Reed, D-R.I., -- didn't take part in the vote.

USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service is proposing a number of amendments to its promotion order on Christmas trees, one of which enables importers to request refunds of assessments paid on trees that were shipped to the U.S. but not sold.

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is allowing imports of fresh pineapple fruit (Ananas comosus) for consumption from Indonesia into the U.S., it said in a Federal Register notice. The change is effective May 29. The agency made its decision following a pest risk analysis that determined that the application of one or more designated phytosanitary measures would be sufficient to mitigate the risks of introducing or disseminating plant pests or noxious weeds.

The USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service is removing requirements governing the mandatory inspection and pesticide testing for imported tobacco that were established under the Tobacco Adjustment Act of 1983, as the requirements reflect obsolete business practices, it said in a notice released May 27.

USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is reopening a comment period for two notices: a pest risk analysis to import Chrysanthemum spp., synonymous genera cuttings and in vitro plantlets into the U.S., and an economic evaluation on regulating chrysanthemum white rust as a quarantine pest.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke L. Rollins announced May 11 that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is working with CBP to suspend the import of live cattle, horse and bison at U.S. ports of entry along the Mexico border because of the detected spread of the new world screwworm (NWS).

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced that officials in Mexico and at USDA have reached an agreement on efforts to prevent the spread of the New World screwworm, avoiding U.S. restrictions on animal imports from Mexico (see 2504280034).