Agricultural Trade News: Colombia, Canada, Produce Packaging

Exports to Colombia

The Department of Agriculture reports that its Foreign Agricultural Service has successfully negotiated a one-year pause to the implementation of a regulation governing mandatory registration with Colombia's National Institute for the Surveillance of Drugs and Foods (Invima) by U.S. food facilities and sanitary authorities.

Currently, U.S. companies wanting to export dairy products, seafood, or egg products to Colombia must register their production facilities through the Health Information System for Import and Export of Agricultural and Livestock Products, the regulatory e-platform of the Colombian Institute for Agriculture and Livestock.

However, a decree issued in 2018 requires foreign establishments and inspection systems for food products considered of high risk to be recognized by Invima. Draft procedures that were to have taken effect July 31, 2025, require foreign food safety authorities to submit lists of facilities where high-risk products are being manufactured and exported to Colombia. In addition, Invima is to collect additional registration fees and is permitted to conduct on-site audits to recognize foreign establishments and inspection systems as equivalent for export authorization to Colombia.

FAS now states that in light of anticipated challenges posed by these new registration procedures it has secured a one-year extension of the implementation date that will benefit all currently registered U.S. export facilities by allowing automatic renewals until July 31, 2026, and enabling new export facilities to self-register under existing process.

Poultry from Canada

Effective July 28, the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has removed restrictions on imports of poultry and related products originating from or transiting zone PCZ-271 in Prince Edward Island, Canada, that had been imposed due to concerns about highly-pathogenic avian influenza. There are currently only two restricted zones in Canada.

Produce Exports

FAS announced July 29 that it has awarded 22 grants for research on the innovative packaging solutions that U.S. fruit and vegetable exporters will need to maintain market access and meet emerging foreign packaging requirements. The funded projects range from development and validation of new packaging materials and technologies to piloting solutions directly with U.S. fresh produce companies. The full list of entities awarded grants is available here.