USDA Lifts Poultry Restrictions on Mexico

March 24, 2000

USDA has lifted some restrictions on poultry imports from Sinaloa and Sonora, Mexico. The restrictions were in place until USDA was assured there would be no poultry diseases transmitted with imports from Sinaloa and Sonora. Imports from the two regions must be certified that there has been no contact with poultry from other regions of Mexico where disease risks
exist.

Based on information from the Mexican government and a site visit by veterinarians from USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, it was determined that Sinaloa and Sonora are free of exotic Newcastle disease, and both regions have the veterinary infrastructure, disease control programs, diagnostic capabilities and surveillance programs needed to prevent a
recurrence of the disease. Neither state has reported a case of exotic Newcastle disease since 1989.

Both states, however, will be required to meet certain conditions, such as providing certification by an authorized Mexican official that all shipments originate in Sonora or Sinaloa and that the poultry products have no contact with poultry from regions where greater risk exists.

Slaughtered poultry meat and products from these and any other region of Mexico will not be allowed into the United States, however, until Mexico's poultry slaughter inspection system is recognized by USDA as equivalent to the U.S. system.

Regulations now permit Mexico to export processed poultry to the United States only if the poultry was slaughtered in the United States under federal inspection or in countries that are eligible to export slaughtered poultry and poultry products into the United States.