Importing Meat, Poultry and Egg Products to the United States

Understanding FSIS requirements from country eligibility through import reinspection.

By Robert J. Berczik, Jr., EAS Consulting Group Independent Consultant

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA), Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is the public health agency responsible for ensuring that domestic and imported meat (which includes Siluriformes fish), poultry, and egg products are safe, wholesome, correctly labeled and packaged. Imported products must originate from approved countries and certified establishments, as authorized by each country’s central competent authority (CCA) and verified by FSIS. Eligibility is determined through an FSIS-led equivalence process with the exporting country. Foreign facilities applying to export must be certified by their CCA, confirming to FSIS that they meet U.S. standards.

FSIS requires a foreign government certification for each shipment of product exported to the U.S. A consignment refers to the product as described on the official inspection certificate. For every consignment, required inspection certificate information must be electronically transmitted or a paper inspection certificate must be provided by an authorized official from the foreign government agency overseeing inspection and certification. The FSIS, Public Health Information System (PHIS) offers electronic government-to-government transmission of inspection certificate data (eCert) as an alternative to traditional paper certificates.

Importers or their agents must apply to FSIS for inspection of imported products by submitting FSIS Form 9540-1 either at the import inspection site or electronically via Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP), Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). PHIS simplifies electronic applications and connects directly with ACE. Applications should be submitted as early as possible before the consignment arrives, but no later than entry filing with CBP.

Once the shipment clears CBP at the port of unlading, it must travel directly to the official import inspection establishment chosen by the importer and presented to FSIS for reinspection prior to any further movement in U.S. commerce. Failure to do so violates the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA), Poultry Products Inspection Act (PPIA) or Egg Products Inspection Act (EPIA) and results in a Failure to Present (FTP). Meat, poultry, and egg products originating from outside the U.S. are considered “in-commerce” if they are off-loaded at a location other than an official import inspection establishment or the official egg products plant designated on the import inspection application. When a product is identified as an FTP, FSIS will request, through CBP, a redelivery of the shipment and appropriate penalties.

Products that pass reinspection may enter U.S. commerce and are considered the same as products produced domestically. Products that fail to meet U.S. regulations cannot be sold within the United States and are refused entry. The owner or consignee has 45 days to complete a disposition of the refused entry product. Disposition options for refused entry products include rectification (i.e., misbranded product brought into compliance), exportation, or destruction by means of landfill, rendering, incineration, denaturing the product not for human food, or conversion of product to animal food with prior U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval. If cartons in the shipment show signs of transportation damage, lack shipping marks, or have marks that are completely unreadable, these items may be separated, and any non-compliant products taken out of the lot while supervised by FSIS.