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Meat, poultry and egg products exported from another nation must meet all safety standards
applied to foods produced in the United States. However, under international law, food
regulatory systems in exporting countries may employ sanitary measures that differ from those
applied domestically by the importing country. The United States makes determinations of equivalence
by evaluating whether foreign food regulatory systems attain the appropriate level of protection
provided by our domestic system. Thus, while foreign food regulatory systems need not be identical
to the U.S. system, they must employ equivalent sanitary measures that provide the same level
of protection against food hazards as is achieved domestically.
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Obtaining Equivalence
Countries wishing to become eligible to export meat, poultry or egg products to the United States must contact the
FSIS Office of International Affairs at:
Phone: (202) 720-3743
FAX: (202) 690-3856
For more information see the
Obtaining Equivalence page.
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FSIS evaluates foreign food regulatory systems for
equivalence through document reviews, on-site audits, and port-of-entry reinspection of
products at the time of importation.
Judgements of system equivalence are necessary for FSIS
and the American consumer to develop and maintain trust in imported meat, poultry and egg
products.
The following publications contain U.S. regulatory requirements for importing
meat, poultry and egg products to the United States:
FSIS inspects all egg products, with the exception of those products exempted under the
Egg Products Inspection Act. Currently,
Canada is the only active exporter of
amenable
egg products to the United States. The EPIA specifies that egg products may not be imported into the
United States except from countries which have an egg products inspection system equivalent to that in
this country, while shell eggs for breaking are eligible from any foreign country.
Restrictions may be applied by the Animal and Plant
Health Inspection Service (APHIS).
Individual titles of the Code of Federal Regulations may be purchased from:
Superintendent of Documents
U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO)
Washington, D.C. 20402
Phone: (202) 512-1800.
GPO maintains a
U.S. Government Online Bookstore. The
Code of Federal Regulations is also available online.
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To view PDF files you must have Adobe Reader installed on your computer.
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