Import Library: Eligible Countries and Products
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The Import Library identifies eligible products using the Process Category, Product Category and Eligible Products listed in the FSIS Product Categorization document, and utilized in the Public Health Information System (PHIS). In addition, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) applicable disease restrictions will be referenced on individual country pages.
- Process Category: High-level category based on whether and how products are processed after slaughter.
- Product Category: More specific category that links the product to the appropriate species and provides more information on the production process.
- Eligible Products: Listing of the most detailed grouping of eligible products – Product Groups – that are used by FSIS to program appropriate types of inspections in FSIS’ PHIS. Eligible products are from a country that the United States (U.S.) has already determined to have an equivalent meat, poultry, or egg product inspection systems.
Source materials used to produce finished products for export to the U.S. must come from an approved source. An approved source is meat or poultry carcasses or products or processed egg products from an eligible country and certified establishment.
APHIS Restricted Products: Products that are restricted by APHIS are identified with a "±". To see the APHIS disease status and the applicable species, click on the APHIS web page link at the bottom of the country page. Restricted cooked products from regions where Foot-And-Mouth disease exists, must be consigned to an I-house identified on the list of APHIS Approved Rapid Defrost Facilities.
Countries listed below are recognized as eligible to export to the U.S. Select a country below for a complete listing of eligible products.
| Eligible Countries | Type of Product |
|---|---|
| Argentina | Meat |
| Australia [1] | Meat, Poultry (Ratites Only) |
| Austria | Meat |
| Brazil | Meat |
| Canada | Meat, Poultry, Egg Products |
| Chile | Meat, Poultry |
| Costa Rica | Meat |
| Croatia | Meat |
| Denmark | Meat |
| England (See United Kingdom) | Meat |
| Finland | Meat |
| France | Meat |
| Germany | Meat |
| Honduras | Meat |
| Hungary | Meat |
| Iceland | Meat |
| Ireland | Meat |
| Israel | Poultry |
| Italy | Meat |
| Japan | Meat |
| Lithuania | Meat |
| Mexico | Meat, Poultry |
| Namibia | Meat |
| Netherlands [1] | Meat, Egg Products |
| New Zealand [1] | Meat |
| Nicaragua | Meat |
| Northern Ireland (See United Kingdom) | Meat |
| Peoples Republic of China | Poultry, Meat (Siluriformes Only) |
| Poland | Meat |
| Republic of Korea | Poultry |
| San Marino | Meat |
| Scotland (See United Kingdom) | Meat |
| Spain | Meat |
| Thailand | Meat (Siluriformes Only) |
| United Kingdom [2] | Meat |
| Uruguay | Meat |
| Vietnam | Meat (Siluriformes Only) |
| Wales (See United Kingdom) | Meat |
1 Participates in a government-to-government electronic transmission of the inspection certificate data as an alternative to the paper certificate (eCert).
2 On March 6, 2020 FSIS combined England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales into one food safety inspection system under the United Kingdom.
Inactive Countries
The following countries, although they have been determined to have an equivalent food safety inspection system, have stopped exporting to the U.S. for an extended period of time. In order to resume exporting, a reinstatement of equivalence determination must be requested when it has been three or more years since the country has exported an equivalent species in a raw inspection system (i.e., Raw-Intact and Raw-Non Intact processing categories); and when a country wants to resume exporting a processing category in a processed products inspection system (i.e., Thermally Processed-Commercially Sterile, Not Heat Treated-Shelf Stable, Heat Treated-Shelf Stable, Fully Cooked-Not Shelf Stable, Heat Treated-Not Fully Cooked-Not Shelf Stable, Products with Secondary Inhibitors-Not Shelf Stable, or Egg Products processing categories).
FSIS will need to reassess the food safety inspection system before the country can export products to the U.S. again. The following is a list of inactive countries:
| Inactive Countries | Type of Product |
|---|---|
| Belgium | Meat |
| Belize | Meat |
| Czech Republic | Meat |
| Dominican Republic | Meat |
| El Salvador | Meat |
| France | Poultry |
| Great Britain | Poultry |
| Guatemala | Meat |
| Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China | Poultry |
| New Zealand | Poultry (Ratites Only) |
| Norway | Meat |
| Paraguay | Meat |
| Republic of China (Taiwan) | Meat |
| Republic of Slovenia | Meat |
| Romania | Meat |
| Slovakia | Meat |
| Sweden | Meat |
| Switzerland | Meat |
| Venezuela | Meat |
Eligible establishments may be viewed on the Eligible Foreign Establishments web page.
Point-of-Contact Information
All communications concerning a country’s eligibility to export meat, poultry, or egg products should be directed to the Office of International Coordination (OIC). Please address correspondence to:
United States Department of Agriculture
Food Safety and Inspection Service
Office of International Coordination
1400 Independence Avenue, SW
Room 3143, South Building
Washington, DC 20250
Phone: (202) 708-9543
Fax: (202) 690-3856
E-mail: InternationalCoordination@usda.gov