USMEF International Buyers Conference Product Showcase Registration Kit USMEF...

USMEF International Buyers Conference Product Showcase Registration Kit

USMEF South American Expo

Food Safety And Animal Health:
Bioengineered Pigs In Study Pose No Threat

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has determined that more than 380 pigs involved in bioengineering studies at the University of Illinois may have entered the food supply after being sold to a livestock dealer instead of being destroyed. The FDA believes, however, that the incident poses no public health or food safety risk, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) concurs with FDA's evaluation.

Full details of the incident are contained in an FDA press release online at: http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/ANSWERS/2003/ANS01197.html.

Mexico

Antidumping Documents Available

On Jan 7, the Mexican government announced that an antidumping investigation was being initiated against imports of U.S. pork from April 1-September 30, 2002. A translation of the Mexico Ministry of Economy antidumping questionnaire is now available. It includes: general information and instructions, overviews in chart 1 and chart 2, definitions in “Annex” 2, 3 and 4, and forms “Annex 1” and “A.1-2” . Exporters and traders selling product to Mexico should review these documents and should consider whether to have their attorneys also review them. USMEF understands that the named companies selling product during the investigation period as well as any company that wants to try avoid being put into an “all others” category should fill out the forms and submit the requested data. Deadline for filing is Feb. 18. The official announcement is available online at http://www.segob.gob.mx/dof/dof_07-01-2003.pdf and begins on page 26 of this document. A preliminary translation – in which there may be still be interpretation errors – is available at http//www.usmef.org/Misc_News/03_0107_MexAntiDump_sp.pdf and a preliminary evaluation of the situation by the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service office in Mexico City is available at http://www.fas.usda.gov/gainfiles/200301/145785049.pdf.