The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Veterinary Services (VS) established an African swine Fever (ASF) protection zone in Puerto Rico (PR) and the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) in September 2021, in response to ASF detections in the Dominican Republic. APHIS also issued Federal Order DA-2021-0002 suspending the interstate movement of all live swine, swine germplasm, swine products, and swine byproducts from Puerto Rico (PR) and the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) to the continental United States and its other territories until mitigations were established to authorize such movement. In December 2021, APHIS issued Federal Order DA-2021-0003 lifting the restrictions and establishing sufficient mitigations to allow movement of certain commercially processed swine products and swine byproducts from PR and USVI to the continental United States and its other territories.
The following applies to commercially processed swine products or swine byproducts from PR or USVI:
- Canned meat/meat products or baked goods that are commercially labeled and packaged, and shelf-stable without requiring refrigeration, imported in personal baggage for personal use, will be eligible for entry.
- APHIS does not require a VS transport permit for processed swine products and swine byproducts, imported as cargo (including mail), as long as they are accompanied by supporting documentation per USDA APHIS Transport Guideline 1127
- Fresh frozen/chilled pork/pork meat products, imported in commercial cargo, must be accompanied by an APHIS VS transport permit.
Permit applications and instructions, including information on the user fee and e-authentication, are available here. Guideline 1127 may be found APIE@usda.gov for specific permitting procedures.
[Source: USDA 7 April 2022]