Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2008/07/02/E8-15014/importation-of-cooked-pork-skins
Timestamp: 2018-07-16 07:47:55
Document Index: 250899519

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 94', '§\u200994', 'art 94', '§\u200994', '§\u200994', '§\u200994', '§\u200994', 'art 327', 'art 327']

A Proposed Rule by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service on 07/02/2008
37892-37896 (5 pages)
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/E8-15014 https://www.federalregister.gov/d/E8-15014
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov/​fdmspublic/​component/​main?​main=​DocketDetail&​d=​APHIS-2008&​-0032 to submit or view comments and to view supporting and related materials available electronically.
The regulations in 9 CFR part 94 (referred to below as the regulations) prohibit or restrict the importation of certain animals and animal products into the United States to prevent the introduction of communicable diseases of livestock and poultry. The regulations in §§ 94.4, 94.8, 94.9, and 94.12 contain requirements for the importation of cured or cooked meat and pork and pork products from regions where rinderpest, foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), African swine fever (ASF), classical swine fever (CSF), and swine vesicular disease (SVD) exist.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has received a request from a United States importer for permission to import cooked pork skins (pork rinds) from Brazil, a region affected with FMD, SVD, ASF, and CSF. Such imports are not permitted under our current regulations. However, a risk assessment [1] performed by the Centers for Epidemiology and Animal Health of APHIS' Veterinary Services program indicates that pork skins cooked in the manner described by the requester are not a potential pathway for entry of foreign animal disease agents into the United States. This is because the cooking process is sufficient to deactivate the pathogens in question.
We are, therefore, proposing to amend the regulations in part 94 to allow for the importation of cooked pork skins from regions with FMD, SVD, ASF, and CSF under the conditions described in this proposed rule. Specifically, we would amend the FMD-related provisions in § 94.4, the ASF-related provisions in § 94.8, the CSF-related provisions in § 94.9, and the SVD-related provisions in § 94.12 by adding a new paragraph to each section that authorizes the importation of pork skins Start Printed Page 37893if they have been cooked using one of the methods described above. Each of those sections also contains additional requirements that must be met in order for pork or pork products to be imported into the United States from regions where these diseases exist. These additional requirements include provisions that the pork or pork products be processed at an approved facility which is eligible to have its products imported into the United States under the Federal Meat Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 601 et seq. ) and the regulations in 9 CFR part 327, and that shipments of cooked pork or pork products must be accompanied by a certificate issued by an official of the National Government of the region of origin who is authorized to issue the foreign meat inspection certificate required under 9 CFR part 327.
Pork rinds are a snack food that is made from deep-fried or microwavable pork rind pellets (cooked pig skins). The size of the pork rind snack manufacturing industry is considered to be relatively small. Available Economic Census data do not provide specific information on the pork rind snack industry. The Census categorizes the pork rind industry with certain other snack foods (excluding potato chips, corn chips, and related products) under “other snack food manufacturing,” and the product classification code is 3119197.[2] As table 1 shows, the industry is composed of a relatively small number of establishments. On average, these establishments employ fewer than 100 employees and therefore most, if not all, of the establishments can be considered to be small entities.[3]
Although no clear-cut method exists to disaggregate the pork-rind snack manufacturers from the other snack manufacturers in the Census data, we can use available sales information for pork-rind snack food to approximate the size of this segment of the industry. Currently two trade associations keep track of pork-rind snack sales: The Snack Food Association of Alexandria, VA, reported sales $562 million (−21.6 percent) [4] and Information Resources, Inc. of Chicago, IL, reported sales of $98 million (−16.8 percent).[5]
Pork rind pellets are made from cooked pork skins and are the main material used in making pork rind snacks. The number and size of the pork rind pellet manufacturers (including manufacturers of pork cracklings [6] ) are relatively small. Only 17 establishments comprise this industry, and they had a total shipment value in 2002 of $196 million, as shown in table 2.
Estimated shipment volume 1
311611R121 Pork rind pellets, including pork cracklings, made in slaughtering plants 5 $45 155.9 million pounds (70,715 metric tons).
311612A441 Pork rind pellets, including pork cracklings, made from purchased carcasses 12 151 56 million pounds (91,580 metric tons).
1 Although shipment volumes for pork rind pellets are not available in the 2002 Census data, the 1997 Census data indicate that 123.7 million pounds were shipped for product code 311612A441, with a total shipment value of $130 million. The 2002 figures are calculated based on this information.Start Printed Page 37894
Trade data [7] specific to pork rinds are not available; instead, three harmonized tariff schedule (HTS) data for the edible offal of swine are examined and summarized.[8 9] Tables 3 and 4 summarize the import and export trend for these three HTS codes.[10]
Canada $2.9 2,901 $4.3 3,553 $10.5 4,481 $7.0 6,635 $5.7 6,274
Others 0.3 177 0.6 144 0.6 102 0.4 174 0.0 27
Mexico $10.1 15, 405 $11.0 16, 747 $19.4 24,325 $18.3 21,235 $16.5 22,078
Two HTS categories that include pork skins are used to examine the status of Brazilian exports of pork rinds: 160249 (Meat, Meat Offal or Mixtures of Swine, Prepared or Preserved, Nesoi [11] ) and 020649 (Offal of Swine Except Livers, Edible, Frozen).
Hong Kong $7.2 9.199 781.9 $9.5 10.347 916.9 $15.2 14,537 1,046.9 65.2
Russia 3.4 4,621 725.3 2.2 2,897 750.1 4.1 4,689 876.8 21.0
Others 2.3 3,882 602.7 3.3 3,493 942.7 3.0 3,064 960.1 13.7
World Total 12.9 17,702 727.8 15.0 16,737 893.4 22.3 22,290 999.2 100
The expected impact of the proposed rule on the U.S. economy is illustrated under two scenarios: 3 million pounds (1,361 metric tons) and 4 million pounds (1,814 metric tons) of pork rind pellets imported from Brazil.[13] These scenarios reflect the initial plan of the U.S. importer who requested the proposed rule.
Change in U.S. production, metric ton −730.2 −973.2
Change in price of pork rind pellets, dollars per metric ton −$17.08 −$22.76
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Pork and pork product from regions where African swine fever exists or is reasonably believed to exist.