The Food Safety and Inspection Service will on Feb. 1 begin testing samples it collects of imported ground beef for six Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli that are adulterants (non-O157 STEC: O26, O45, O103, O111, O121 or O145), it said in a notice. Currently, samples are tested for only E. coli O157:H7 and salmonella. FSIS also will expand testing for the six new E. coli strains to various raw beef products at beef producing establishments, it said.
The Agricultural Marketing Service is amending its National List of substances allowed and prohibited in organic products, it said in a notice in the Nov. 14 Federal Register. The final rule allows low-acyl gellan gum, a food additive used as a thickener, gelling agent and stabilizer, as an ingredient in processed organic products. It also allows paper-based crop planting aids for organic crop production, and replaces the term “wood resin” on the National List with the term “wood rosin” to reflect the popular spelling of the substance. The changes take effect Dec. 14.
The Agricultural Marketing Service seeks comments on how it should update Harmonized Tariff Schedule numbers subject to importer assessments under the paper and paper-based packaging marketing order, it said in a notice released Nov. 4. AMS is also proposing to update the marketing order so that changes to tariff schedule numbers can be made more easily in the future. Comments are due Dec. 7.
The Agricultural Marketing Service is reducing rates for assessments on imports of live porcine animals, pork and pork products, it said in a final rule released Nov. 3. Effective Jan. 1, assessments on domestic and imported live porcine animals will decrease to 0.35% of the market value of the animal, from 0.4%. The assessment on imports of pork and pork products will also decrease to between one-hundredth and three-hundredths of a cent per pound, depending on the Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading applicable to the imports. The AMS is also updating the HTS subheading for prepared or preserved pork in its regulations.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will slightly lower some fees for agricultural quarantine and inspection (AQI) services, the agency said in a news release. The agency is removing a 3.5% surcharge put in place in 2015 for commercial trucks and truck transponders, international air passengers and international cruise ship passengers, in response to a court decision that found the APHIS no longer has the authority to implement the increase. The amended fees take effect Dec. 1. “Please note that these fee changes do not affect [CBP] fees collected concurrently with certain AQI fees listed above, such as those fees applicable to commercial trucks, although the overall amount to be tendered in such transactions will change accordingly."
The Agricultural Marketing Service is proposing changes to the marketing order on walnuts that include the elimination of mandatory inspection and certification requirements, a new mechanism for collecting assessments, a new authority for collecting late payments and an assessment rate of $0.0125 per in-shell pound of walnuts, it said in a notice in the Oct. 25 Federal Register. The proposed changes would allow the collection of assessments, currently on pause, to resume, the AMS said. Written exceptions are due Nov. 25.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is proposing changes to import conditions for table grapes from Chile, it said in a notice released Oct. 14. Under the changes, table grapes from Chile could be imported under a systems approach or using irradiation treatment for the European grapevine moth and Chilean false red mite if they are from areas with a very low prevalence of those pests. Current mitigation measures for the Medfly would remain unchanged. “The systems approach would provide an alternative to the current import requirement of mandatory treatment with methyl bromide fumigation,” APHIS said in an emailed update. Comments are due Dec. 16.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is loosening requirements on importation of bovines and bovine products from Ireland, it said in a notice. APHIS will reclassify Ireland as having negligible risk of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, concurring with recommendations recently issued by the World Organization for Animal Health, the agency said. Ireland had previously been classified as undetermined for BSE risk, and imports of bovines and bovine products from the country were prohibited.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will allow importation of pummelo fruit from Vietnam into the U.S., subject to certain phytosanitary requirements, it said in a notice released Oct. 3. Imports may be authorized beginning Oct. 4, APHIS said.
The Agricultural Marketing Service is amending the Cotton Board Rules and Regulations to increase the value assigned to imported cotton for the purposes of calculating supplemental assessments on imports collected under the Cotton Research and Promotion Program, it said in a direct final rule released Sept. 27. The revised value is 1.3215 cents, an increase of .2079 cent per kilogram. The increase reflects a rise in the average price of upland cotton received by U.S. farmers during the period January through December 2021. AMS's notice also includes a table of adjusted assessments corresponding to each Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading for which they are due. The changes take effect Nov. 28, unless adverse comments are received by Oct. 28.