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Russia

Exporters Should Note New Pork Export Requirements

As of October 25, 2005, pork exports to Russia must be accompanied by a new FSIS export certificate (9450-3). Please review the Russian requirements in the FSIS Export Library of Requirements . Exporters should note especially:

“Raw pork including bacon and pork for retail sale. Effective October 25, 2005, a new edition (8/11/2005) of FSIS 9450-3, Veterinary Certificate for Pork Meat Exported into the Russian Federation, must be used to certify raw pork intended for export to Russia. Until October 25, 2005, either the previous edition FSIS 9450-3 (11/15/2000) or the new edition FSIS 9450-3 (8/11/2005) may be used. The new edition does not require co-signature by the Technical Service Center (TSC) and should not be sent the TSC for signature. Previous editions of certificates received at the TSC on or after October 25 will be returned to the exporter unsigned."

”A guideline for 9450-3 (8/11/2005) has been developed to assist in the preparation of this certificate. This certificate has a preprinted certificate number and is a controlled document. FSIS Form 9060-5, Meat and Poultry Certificate of Wholesomeness should not be issued. If necessary, obtain carbon set FSIS 9450-3A (8/11/2005), Continuation Sheet for the Veterinary Certificate for Pork Meat Exported into the Russian Federation. A watermark, the U.S. government eagle, must appear on the first page of these carbon set forms. The eagle watermark may appear at random locations on the page.”

BSE

FDA Proposes Additional BSE Safeguards

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced new measures today (October 4) to help further protect consumers against the agent thought to cause bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). The FDA is proposing to amend its animal feed regulations to prohibit from use in the food or feed of all animals certain high-risk cattle materials that can potentially carry the BSE-infectious agent. All of the proposed prohibitions, except for those related to tallow, have already applied to cattle feed since 1997.

These high risk cattle materials prohibited in the new proposed rule include:

• The brains and spinal cords from cattle 30 months of age and older;

• The brains and spinal cords from cattle of any age not inspected and passed for human consumption;

• The entire carcass of cattle not inspected and passed for human consumption if the brains and spinal cords have not been removed;

• Tallow that is derived from the materials prohibited by this proposed rule if the tallow contains more than 0.15 percent insoluble impurities; and

• Mechanically separated beef that is derived from the materials prohibited by this proposed rule.

In July 2004, FDA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture jointly published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) in which FDA announced its tentative conclusion that it should propose banning SRMs in all animal feed. In this ANPRM, FDA asked for comment on this measure and also on other feed control measures such as prohibiting the use of all mammalian and poultry protein in ruminant feed.

FDA also asked for comment on the set of measures that the agency had announced in January 2004 including the elimination of the exemptions for blood and blood products and "plate waste" from the 1997 ruminant feed rule, a prohibition on the use of poultry litter in ruminant feed, and a requirement for dedicated equipment and facilities to prevent cross-contamination.

FDA has carefully analyzed the comments it received on the 2004 ANPRM and has concluded that the other feed control measures discussed in the ANPRM are not needed if the high-risk tissues identified in this proposed rule are excluded from all animal feed channels.

Comprehensive information about FDA's work on BSE and links to other related websites are available at http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/bse.html.