New US FSIS Requirements for Exporting Meat and Poultry Products to China

On July 25, 2024, the United States department of agriculture food safety and inspection service (FSIS) released an important announcement, exports to China meat and poultry products were introduced in detail in the new regulations, to ensure product quality and safety. The changes, which will take effect on July 1, 2024, are designed to strengthen the tracking and supervision of exported products and provide more reliable security for consumers.

First, FSIS has announced that all export certificates for meat and poultry products (excluding casings and eggs) to China will use advanced digital signature technology. This means that from July 1, all 9060-5 series certificates from FSIS will be digitally signed and printed on special paper with watermarks to prevent forgery and tamper, and increase the authority and credibility of the certificates.

Second, the logistics process in order to enhance the transparency of all 9060-5 series number certificate must provide shipping container or air flight number. In the case of air cargo, the applicant must provide the flight number, but only for those air cargo without container number. This requirement will help FSIS more accurately track the position and state of product in the transport process, timely discover and deal with potential problems.

In addition, export applicants need to provide more detailed information, including container number, seal number, port of export, etc., and confirm it in the Notes of Application Form 9060-6. For air cargo, if there is no container number, need to provide air flight number. At the same time, the applicant also needs to specify the type of exporting enterprise (such as slaughterhouses, processing plants, etc.) and provide the corresponding enterprise number, as well as the relevant product declaration to ensure that the source of the product and the compliance of the production process.

Finally, for those who plan to transit from China to Japan's meat and poultry products, FSIS requested 9060-5 health certificate for the meat and poultry exports. Certificate must be declared in the products conform to the requirements of the health law in the United States and Japan. For pork products, also need special indicate the United States is not pigs cholera, and did not use pigs cholera vaccine, in order to meet the strict import standards of Japan.

The new rules reflect FSIS to increase exports to China meat and poultry products regulatory determination, as well as the continued commitment to the global food safety standards. Relevant enterprises need to pay close attention to these changes and adjust their export processes in a timely manner to ensure that they meet the new requirements, so as to maintain their competitiveness in the international market.