U.S. CODE

U.S. Code

§ 466. Imports

(a) Compliance with standards and regulations; status after importation

No slaughtered poultry, or parts or products thereof, of any kind shall be imported into the United States unless they are healthful, wholesome, fit for human food, not adulterated, and contain no dye, chemical, preservative, or ingredient which renders them unhealthful, unwholesome, adulterated, or unfit for human food and unless they also comply with the rules and regulations made by the Secretary of Agriculture to assure that imported poultry or poultry products comply with the standards provided for in this chapter. All imported, slaughtered poultry, or parts or products thereof, shall after entry into the United States in compliance with such rules and regulations be deemed and treated as domestic slaughtered poultry, or parts or products thereof, within the meaning and subject to the provisions of this chapter and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act [21 U.S.C. 301 et seq.], and Acts amendatory of, supplemental to, or in substitution for such chapter and Act.

(b) Rules and regulations; destruction and exportation of refused imports

The Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to make rules and regulations to carry out the purposes of this section and in such rules and regulations the Secretary of Agriculture may prescribe the terms and conditions for the destruction of all slaughtered poultry, or parts or products thereof, offered for entry and refused admission into the United States unless such slaughtered poultry, or parts or products thereof, be exported by the consignee within the time fixed therefor in such rules and regulations.

All charges for storage, cartage, and labor with respect to any product which is refused admission pursuant to this section shall be paid by the owner or consignee, and in default of such payment shall constitute a lien against any other products imported thereafter by or for such owner or consignee.

(d) Domestic standards and processing facilities applicable; enforcement

(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, all poultry, or parts or products of poultry, capable of use as human food offered for importation into the United States shall—

(A) be subject to inspection, sanitary, quality, species verification, and residue standards that achieve a level of sanitary protection equivalent to that achieved under United States standards; and

(B) have been processed in facilities and under conditions that achieve a level of sanitary protection equivalent to that achieved under United States standards.

(2)

(A) The Secretary may treat as equivalent to a United States standard a standard of an exporting country described in paragraph (1) if the exporting country provides the Secretary with scientific evidence or other information, in accordance with risk assessment methodologies determined appropriate by the Secretary, to demonstrate that the standard of the exporting country achieves the level of sanitary protection achieved under the United States standard. For the purposes of this subsection, the term “sanitary protection” means protection to safeguard public health.

(B) The Secretary may—

(i) determine, on a scientific basis, that the standard of the exporting country does not achieve the level of protection that the Secretary considers appropriate; and

(ii) provide the basis for the determination in writing to the exporting country on request.

(3) Any such imported poultry article that does not meet such standards shall not be permitted entry into the United States.

(4) The Secretary shall enforce this subsection through—

(A) random inspections for such species verification and for residues; and

(B) random sampling and testing of internal organs and fat of carcasses for residues at the point of slaughter by the exporting country, in accordance with methods approved by the Secretary.

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