Summary of ORA BSE Import Bulletin 99B-14
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has alerted its import field offices to the potential
importation of human food products and nutritional supplements containing ruminant material
from BSE-affected or at-risk countries as determined by United States Department of
Agriculture (USDA)/Animal, Plant Health and Inspection Service (APHIS). The current action is
a followup to an earlier FDA alert issued in January 2000 regarding bulk shipments of high
risk bovine tissues from these same countries. An expanded list of products at issue and a
list of the current BSE-affected countries is set out below.
USDA/APHIS has prohibited the importation into the United States of all edible ruminant
products from Europe, Oman, and other BSE-affected countries. The Import Bulletin will
facilitate FDA's careful review of all imports of FDA-regulated products to ensure
coordination with APHIS on the prohibitions. FDA's review will include evaluation of product
ingredient lists to determine whether the products offered for import contain certain ruminant
materials. Products that appear to contain ruminant material from the identified countries
will be referred to APHIS for disposition.
PRODUCTS
Any products containing ruminant material such as (but not limited to):
- Cheese products containing meat of ruminant origin
- Ruminant meat products
- Poultry products containing or processed with ruminant products
- Rennet from ruminant animals
- Pie fillings containing or processed with ruminant products
- Multiple ingredient food products (soups, stews, sandwiches, mixed dinners, etc.)
containing or processed with ruminant products
- Baby foods, geriatric foods, and dietary foods containing or processed with ruminant
products
- Vitamins, minerals, proteins, and other dietary supplements that contain or have been
processed with ruminant material
- Food additives (emulsifiers, enzymes, flavor enhancers, etc.) containing or processed with
ruminant materials
- Botanicals containing or processed with ruminant materials
- Animal by-products and extracts for human use
BSE-AFFECTED OR AT-RISK COUNTRIES
ALBANIA (AL)
ANDORRA (AD)
AUSTRIA (AT)
BELGIUM (BE)
BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA (BA)
BULGARIA (BG)
CANADA (CA)
CROATIA (HR)
CZECH REPUBLIC (CS)
DENMARK (DK)
FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA (YU)
FINLAND (FI)
FRANCE (FR)
GERMANY (DE)
GREECE (GR)
HUNGARY (HU)
IRELAND, REPUBLIC of (IE)
ISRAEL (IL)
ITALY (IT)
JAPAN (JP)
LIECHTENSTEIN
LUXEMBOURG (LU)
MACEDONIA, the former YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC of (MK)
MONACO (MC)
NETHERLANDS (NL)
NORWAY (NO)
OMAN (OM)
POLAND (PL)
PORTUGAL (PT)
ROMANIA (RO)
SAN MARINO (SM)
SLOVAK REPUBLIC (SLOVAKIA) (SK)
SLOVENIA (SI)
SPAIN (ES)
SWEDEN (SE)
SWITZERLAND (CH)
UNITED KINGDOM (Great Britain including Northern Ireland, and Falkland Islands) (GB)
This document was issued on May 20, 2003.
For more recent information on Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)
See http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/bse.html
Imports and Exports