On June 14 the Foreign Agricultural Service issued the following GAIN reports:

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service added new commodities to the Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM) exempted host list. In its revised Federal Order, APHIS said the following commodities are now exempted: Allium cepa (onion); Allium sativum (garlic); Citrullus lanatus, Citrullus vulgaris (watermelon); Coriander sativum (cilantro); Cucumis melo (various melons); Daucus carota (carrot); Foeniculum vulgare (fennel); Gossypium hirsutum, Gossypium barbadense (cotton); Pistacia vera (pistachio); Prunus amygdalus, Prunus dulcis (almond); Punica granatum (pomegranate); Taraxacum officinale (dandelion green); and Ziziphus jujube (jujube).

Several industry associations voiced their support for the proposed rule on the importation of live bovines and products derived from bovines with regard to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, commonly known as mad cow disease), published by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service on March 16. The California Cattlemen’s Association, National Milk Producers Association, and Montana Stockgrowers Association all submitted favorable comments on June 14 to APHIS on the rule, which would provide for new risk-based conditions by establishing a system for classifying regions as to BSE risk that is largely consistent with the system employed by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).

On June 13 the Foreign Agricultural Service issued the following GAIN reports:

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service issued emails June 13 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 and Agriculture Organization published “Fisheries and Aquaculture Technical Paper No. 551: Assessment and Management of Biotoxin Risks in Bivalve Molluscs,” said the Food Safety and Inspection Service. Proposed draft performance criteria for reference and confirmatory methods, as well as for screening methods for marine biotoxins for the Standard for Raw and Live Bivalve Molluscs will be considered at the next session of Codex Committee on Fish and Fishery Products meeting in Indonesia on October 1-5, said FSIS. The publication is available online here.

On June 12 the Foreign Agricultural Service issued the following GAIN reports:

The Food Safety and Inspection Service said a group of 16 officials who work on Codex issues from 8 African countries (Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Kenya, Morocco, Mozambique, Togo, and Uganda) participated in the second African Mentoring Program, May 18-26, in Washington, D.C. The program was organized by the U.S. Codex Office, FSIS said, in conjunction with the Foreign Agricultural Service and the Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture at the Texas A & M University.

The comment period on the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s March 2012 proposed rule on conditions of importation of bovines and bovine products with regard to Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE, or mad cow disease) should be extended by another 60 days following completion of the Department of Agriculture’s epidemiological investigation of the recently detected BSE case in California, said the Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund -- United Stockgrowers of America (R-CALF USA) in comments submitted to APHIS.

On June 11 the Foreign Agricultural Service issued the following GAIN reports: