Jim Rogers (202) 690-4755
Jerry Redding (202) 720-4623
USDA PROPOSES TO ADD THE MEXICAN STATE OF NAYARIT TO THE LIST OF REGIONS CONSIDERED FREE OF CLASSICAL SWINE FEVER
WASHINGTON, Feb. 5, 2007--The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service today announced a proposal to amend its regulations for importing animals and animal products by adding the Mexican state of Nayarit to the list of regions considered free of classical swine fever (CSF).
This proposal comes at the request of the Mexican Government and the state of Nayarit. APHIS conducted a risk evaluation that indicates the region is free of CSF.
In addition to changing the CSF status of Nayarit, this proposal would also add Nayarit to the list of CSF-affected regions that must meet certain certification requirements to ensure their freedom from CSF in order to export live swine, pork and pork products to the United States. Although Nayarit is considered CSF free, the state is located adjacent to regions that are still considered infected.
In order to export to the United States, Nayarit would have to certify the products’ origin, move and process pork products in CSF-free zones and require that all processing facilities be inspected by the government of Mexico.
Nayarit is not a major swine production area. In 2004, 34 commercial swine farms were in Nayarit, with a population of 30,634 animals. This rulemaking is unlikely to have a significant effect on U.S. pork and pork products markets as Mexico is mainly an importer of U.S. pork. In 2004, Mexico exported approximately 3.2 percent or 36,000 metric tons of their total pork production.
These actions would relieve certain CSF-related restrictions on the importation of pork, pork products, live swine and swine semen from Nayarit into the United States while continuing to protect against the introduction of this disease into the United States.
CSF, a highly contagious viral disease of swine, was eradicated from the United States in 1978 after a 16-year effort by the industry, and state and federal government agencies.
This proposed rule was published in the Jan. 31 Federal Register.
Consideration will be given to comments received on or before April 2. Send an original and three copies of postal mail or commercial delivery comments to Docket No. APHIS-2006-0104, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, APHIS, Station 3A-03.8, 4700 River Road,
Unit 118, Riverdale, Md. 20737-1238. If you wish to submit a comment using the Internet, go to the Federal eRulemaking portal at http://www.regulations.gov, select "Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service" from the agency drop-down menu; then click on "Submit." In the Docket ID column, select APHIS-2006-0104 to submit or view public comments and to view supporting and related materials available electronically.
Comments are posted on the Regulations.gov Web site and may also be reviewed at USDA, Room 1141, South Building, 14th St. and Independence Ave., S.W., Washington, D.C., between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. To facilitate entry into the comment reading room, please call (202) 690-2817.
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