USDA to allow bone-in lamb meat from Uruguay

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) said it will allow the import of bone-in lamb meat into the United States from Uruguay under certain conditions.    The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) will allow the import of bone-in lamb meat into the United States from Uruguay under certain conditions, APHIS said in a statement.
   Uruguay had requested an exemption from current USDA de-boning requirements used to protect against foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) to export bone-in lamb meat to the United States.
   After a thorough risk-based analysis, APHIS decided that bone-in ovine meat may be safely imported under certain conditions, while still protecting the United States from FMD.
   “Uruguay will only be able to export meat from a select group of lambs. To mitigate the risk of FMD, these lambs must test negative for FMD, be separated from other FMD-susceptible animals after testing, and have individual animal identification as part of a national traceability system,” APHIS said.
   The United States has safely imported boneless beef and lamb from Uruguay since 2003. The proposed rule was published on July 1, 2016 for a 60-day comment period. APHIS said it reviewed 17 comments before making this final decision.