USDA announced it will again close the southern border to livestock trade “effective immediately,” after another detection of New World Screwworm in Mexico, it said in a July 9 news release. The agency had previously said it would reopen southern border ports to cattle, bison and horse imports in phases, with the Douglas, Arizona, port of entry the first to reopen July 7. However, the newly reported New World Screwworm case “raises significant concern about the previously reported information shared by Mexican officials and severely compromises the outlined port reopening schedule of five ports from July 7-September 15,” USDA said in the release.
The federal government is looking to increase enforcement on “logistics providers, customs brokers, and other trade intermediaries” that are responsible for importing “dangerous biochemicals and biological agents,” USDA and other agencies said in a National Farm Security Action Plan released July 8.
USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service has informed the Office of Management and Budget that it plans to renew an approved information collection related to import inspection applications, it said in a Federal Register notice.
USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service is amending federal meat inspection regulations to remove the provisions for FSIS’s sampling and testing of pumped bacon for nitrosamines, it said in a Federal Register notice. FSIS stopped sampling for nitrosamines in 1998, the notice said. This rule is effective on July 1.
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.