In response to a petition for a constitutional injunction from a group of Mexican potato growers, a federal district court in Los Mochis, Mexico, has banned the import of U.S. potatoes to “preserve food sovereignty and the health of Mexican crop fields.” The growers reportedly argued that imported potatoes create a risk of crop disease and that Mexican agricultural authorities had failed to take preventive action. See New York Times, August 4, 2017. Issue 644
Tag Archives exports
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) and the National Service for Animal and Plant Health, Food Safety and Quality of Mexico (SENASICA) have announced a joint Organic Compliance Committee to “ensure the integrity of organic products trade between the United States and Mexico.” With implementation of Mexico’s organic regulations slated for 2017, the two countries agreed to form a committee to achieve “equivalency in organic production and trade,” as well as enhance enforcement controls on organic products. According to an October 19, 2016, press release, the committee will “establish requirements for the use of import certificates in both countries within six months to provide verification of each shipment of organic products between the United States and Mexico.” Under the new arrangement, the committee will sample organic products for chemical residues, share the results with AMS and SENASICA, and “engage with certifiers operating in Mexico by conducting listening…
The Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) has requested public comments on the services provided to support “the marketing of grain and related commodities.” The agency seeks input from producers, handlers, processors, food manufacturers, exporters, importers, and other industry stakeholders to determine how GIPSA “can best facilitate the marketing of grains, oilseeds, rice, pulses, and related products or products made from them, including co-products of ethanol production, commonly referred to as distillers’ grains, based on market-identified quality attributes.” In particular, GIPSA asks respondents to consider the following questions: (i) “Are there any market-identified quality attributes that GIPSA does not currently describe (or provide testing) that would facilitate the marketing of grain, oilseeds, and related products?”; (ii) “What role should GIPSA take, if any, in standardizing the testing of inputs and outputs of ethanol coproduct processing?”; and (iii) “Are there any other services that GIPSA could offer to facilitate the…
An Iowa federal jury has found William Aossey , the former owner of Midamar Corp., guilty of making false export statements along with conspiracy and wire fraud stemming from the company’s misrepresenta- tion of the source of food exported to Malaysia and Indonesia. U.S. v. Aossey, No. 14-0116 (N.D. Iowa, jury verdict entered July 13, 2015). Aossey was indicted over claims that Midamar bought products from a slaughterhouse not certified to export meat to Indonesia and Malaysia, then removed the facility’s federal establishment number with nail-polish remover and replaced it with the number of a certified facility. Additional charges alleging that the company’s products do not meet halal standards are pending against Aossey’s sons. Issue 572
The World Trade Organization’s (WTO’s) Appellate Body has affirmed its August 2013 decision condemning Argentina’s broad trade-related restrictions affecting a variety of goods and food products. In one case that the WTO considered, Argentine government officials approved an agreement with a firm that imported Porsche vehicles that would require the company to offset the imports by exporting the same value of wine and olive products each year; in another, Pirelli was required to export $100 million worth of honey to import its tires. The Argentine Secretary of Domestic Trade also apparently limited the 2012 importation of finished ham products, especially those from Spain and Italy, to 80 percent of the amount imported the previous year. Affected goods also included clothing, medicine, technology products, and Bibles. “The United States welcomes the WTO’s findings in this dispute,” U.S. Trade Representative Michael Frohman said in a statement. “Argentina’s protectionist measures impact a broad…
Philip Payne, the former operations manager of Halal-food company Midamar Corp., has pled guilty to a charge of conspiracy to make and deliver false certificates and writings stemming from Midamar’s export of beef to Indonesia and Malaysia purportedly prepared in accordance with Islamic law. U.S. v. Payne, No. 14-cr-0143 (N.D. Iowa, request for approval filed January 7, 2015). In his plea agreement, Payne admitted that Midamar attempted to meet the rise in Halal meat demand by supplying kosher beef slaughtered by rabbis without any oversight from a Muslim slaughterman. Several executives at Midamar have been charged with making false statements on export certificates, committing wire fraud and laundering money, allegations to which founder William B. Aossey Jr. and two of his sons pled not guilty in December 2014. A trial on those charges is set for February 17, 2015. Issue 550
In light of representations that the parties are close to settlement, a multidistrict litigation (MDL) court has continued to stay proceedings in litigation alleging that the isolated appearance of genetically modified (GM) wheat in Oregon, which purportedly led Japan and South Korea to suspend imports of soft-white wheat from the United States, caused wheat farmers to sustain economic losses. Barnes v. Monsanto Co., C.A., MDL No. 13-2473 (D. Kan., order entered September 10, 2014). Information about the lawsuit filed by Kansas farmer Ernest Barnes appears in Issue 486 of this Update. The court ordered the parties to file stipulations of dismissal of the soft-white wheat claims on or before September 29, 2014, or to submit a scheduling order, discovery plan and early mediation plan by November 7. Issue 537
The Department of Commerce has issued an affirmative preliminary determination in a countervailing duty (CVD) investigation of sugar imports from Mexico, and the United States is preparing to impose import duties as high as 17 percent on Mexican sugar. According to an International Trade Administration fact sheet, the CVD investigation was instituted in March 2014 after domestic sugar interests filed a petition seeking relief from “the market distorting effects caused by injurious subsidization of imports into the United States.” Beginning the first week of September, Commerce will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection to require cash deposits based on the preliminary subsidy rates calculated for different Mexican exporters. A final determination in the matter is scheduled for January 2015. An American Sugar Alliance spokesperson said that the August 26, 2014, determination “validates our claim that the flood of Mexican sugar, which is harming America’s sugar producers and workers, is subsidized…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Food Safety and Inspection Service is convening a September 25, 2014, public meeting in Washington, D.C., to receive public comments about draft positions to be discussed at the 21st Session of the Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems of the Codex Alimentarius Commission in Brisbane, Australia, on October 13-17. Issues on the September 25 meeting agenda include (i) a discussion paper on Principles and Guidelines for Monitoring Regulatory Performance of National Food Control Systems and (ii) draft amendments to Guidelines for the Exchange of Information between Countries on Rejections of Imported Food. USDA and the Food and Drug Administration have a public meeting slated for October 23 in Washington, D.C., to provide information and receive public comments about draft positions to be discussed at the 46th Session of the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene in Lima, Peru, on November…
Russia has reportedly imposed a ban on U.S. turkey imports, effective February 11, 2013, thus extending a ban on pork and beef imports in an ongoing dispute over the use of growth stimulant ractopamine in animal feed. According to a news source, Russia’s Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (VPSS) made the decision after repeated warnings from Russian authorities about continual breaches of Russian rules banning the presence of the chemical—believed to cause health problems in humans—in food. The Codex Alimentarius Commission has apparently determined that the chemical is not harmful to humans when present in meat at low levels, but that has not stopped some countries, such as Russia and China, from banning it. “Since the violations continue and we are finding ractopamine in meat shipments from the USA, we plan starting February 11 to impose restrictions on the import of this product,” VPSS Chief Sergei Dankvert said. The…
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