FSIS Lifts Suspension on Brazil’s Exports of Raw Intact Beef Products to the U.S.

FSIS takes very seriously the responsibility to ensure the safety of meat, poultry, and egg products for American consumers. FSIS recently conducted a targeted, on-site equivalence verification audit of Brazil’s raw intact beef products to verify the implementation of corrective actions in response to several audits and technical discussions since FSIS suspended the export of raw intact beef from Brazil in 2017. FSIS uses a three-pronged approach to verify that a foreign country’s inspection system for imported meat, poultry, and egg products achieves an equivalent level of public health protection as the U.S. inspection system.

FSIS confirmed that Brazil has implemented the corrective actions and has determined that its food safety inspection system governing the production of raw intact beef is equivalent to that of the U.S. As a result, effective February 21, 2020, FSIS is lifting the suspension on raw intact beef products exported from Brazil to the U.S. Raw intact beef products from Brazil will be subject to re-inspection at U.S. points of entry by FSIS import inspectors as is required with meat, poultry, and egg products from other countries.

The reports for audits conducted by FSIS in June 2019 and January 2020 are available at https://www.fsis.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media_file/2020-08/brazil-far-2020.pdf.

FSIS Posts Individual Category Status and Aggregate Results for Poultry Carcasses, Chicken Parts, and Comminuted Poultry Tested for Salmonella

On February 20, 2020, FSIS updated the individual establishment Salmonella performance standard category information for raw poultry carcasses, raw chicken parts and comminuted poultry products at https://www.fsis.usda.gov/science-data/data-sets-visualizations.

Additionally, FSIS posted the aggregate sampling results showing the number of establishments in categories 1, 2, or 3 for establishments producing young chicken or turkey carcasses, raw chicken parts or not ready-to-eat (NRTE) comminuted poultry products at https://www.fsis.usda.gov/science-data/data-sets-visualizations.

Export Requirements Updates

The Library of Export Requirements has been updated for products for the following countries:

• Barbados

Complete information can be found at http://www.fsis.usda.gov/inspection/import-export.