• As previously covered on this blog, late last week, the White House announced that China would resume beef imports no later than July 16, 2017 as part of a broader trade agreement with China.  In return, the U.S. pledged that it will remove obstacles to importing cooked Chinese poultry meat.
  • In response, Food & Water Watch issued a statement expressing concern that imports of cooked poultry from China could put American consumers at risk due to a “history of food safety problems.”
  • The precise timing of when the U.S. may begin importing cooked Chinese poultry is not yet clear as FSIS still must take a number of regulatory steps, including issuing a proposed rule in the Federal Register (currently slated for July 16, 2017) along with a comment period, prior to making a final determination as to whether China is equivalent and thus eligible to export poultry to the U.S. that was slaughtered and cooked in Chinese establishments.  As permitting poultry imports from China would potentially go a long way towards reopening the lucrative Chinese market for U.S. poultry (which has been banned from China since January 2015), we gather that every effort will be made to expedite this process.