U.S. Export Requirements for Meat and Poultry
June 15, 2010 -- Are you aware that exporting meat or poultry out of the U.S., Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands may require you to obtain a Meat and Poultry Export Certificate of Wholesomeness (Form FSIS9060-5)?
Are you aware that in addition to U.S. requirements there may be country of destination requirements?
Please note that this is a notice of an existing regulation this is not a new regulation.
Meat
U.S. Federal Meat Inspection Act Title 21/Chapter 12/Sections 615 – 618 outlines the requirements for the exportation of cattle, sheep, swine, goats and their associated meat food products. http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Regulations_&_Policies/FMIA/index.asp#613
These requirements are in addition to the normal USDA inspection requirements.
If the meat you are exporting is covered by this Act then it is a U.S. mandate that you obtain an export inspection and issuance of the certificate regardless of whether the destination port requires a certificate.
Be aware these requirements also cover processed meat and meat of foreign origin that has been accepted into the commerce of the U.S.
Small quantities exclusively for the personal use of your customer and not for sale or distribution (less than 50lbs) are exempt unless overwritten by specific country requirements.
During the inspection the USDA Inspector will stamp the boxes with the export stamp and issue the certificate
Poultry
Export inspection requirements for poultry are based on the country of destination.
These requirements are dynamic and can change fairly quickly.
This link takes you to the listing of countries and their requirements USDA Web Site
The USDA offers numerous methods of providing you with updates – sign up for one of them.http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Contact_US/index.asp
Currently U.S. laws do not mandate an export inspection on poultry however it is strongly recommended.
The Field Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) of the USDA will provide an export inspection even if the country of destination does not have a requirement for one.
If your country of destination is not listed it is assumed that nothing is known about the country’s import requirements and FSIS will issue the Form 9060-5 without any additional information provided in the "remarks section.: