Sugar
The Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service is accepting comments by Jan. 15 from stakeholders involved directly or indirectly in the importation of refined sugar on whether it would be necessary and appropriate to establish additional terms and conditions with respect to refined sugar imports, including the potential impact of such modifications on the domestic sugar industry.
FAS is specifically interested in comments on the need to:
- define “refined sugar” as having a minimum polarization of 99.8 degrees or higher;
- establish a standard for color- or reflectance-based units for refined sugar;
- prescribe specifications for the packaging type for refined sugar;
- prescribe specifications for transportation modes for refined sugar;
- require affidavits or other evidence that sugar imported as refined sugar will not undergo further refining in the U.S.;
- prescribe appropriate terms and conditions to avoid unlawful sugar imports; and
- establish other definitions, terms and conditions, or other requirements.
Poultry
The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has imposed restrictions on imports of avian commodities from the following areas due to concerns about highly-pathogenic avian influenza.
- the Cayman Islands (effective Nov. 28)
- zone PCZ-311 in Manitoba, Canada (effective Dec. 1)
- zone PCZ-312 in Saskatchewan, Canada (effective Dec. 2)
These restrictions include the following.
- Importation of poultry, commercial birds, ratites, avian hatching eggs, unprocessed avian products and byproducts, and certain fresh poultry products is prohibited.
- Importation as cargo of processed avian products and byproducts must be accompanied by an APHIS import permit and/or government certification confirming that the goods were treated in accordance with APHIS requirements.
- Importation as cargo of fresh, unprocessed shell/table eggs and egg products, void of the shell (e.g., liquid eggs and dried egg whites) is prohibited unless they are consigned from the port of arrival directly to an APHIS-approved breaking and pasteurization facility. An import permit and/or certificate is not required in such cases.
APHIS has also removed restrictions on imports of poultry and related products originating from or transiting zones PCZ-292 and -296 in Alberta (both effective Dec. 9), zones PCZ-286 and -289 in Saskatchewan (both effective Dec. 11), and Hokkaido prefecture in Japan (effective Dec. 9) that had been imposed due to concerns about HPAI.
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