The Global Cold Chain Alliance (GCCA) recently voiced its approval of the Food Safety Inspection Service’s (FSIS) decision to remove an arbitrary restriction on the location of import establishments for meat and poultry imported to the United States.
The change announced by FSIS comes in response to a joint petition by the GCCA and the Meat Import Council of America (MICA) and is the culmination of many months of work to secure a common-sense change to the policy that unnecessarily limits the geographic location within which a facility can be located to be permitted to serve as an “Import House” (I-House).
I-House designation means a storage warehouse has been permitted to serve as a holding area for goods called for import inspection by FSIS. I-House status is granted by FSIS and comes with several requirements around the separation of products and making available space and equipment to conduct inspections. The rule change ends a longstanding policy requirement that I-House status would only be granted to facilities within a 50-mile radius of a U.S. port of entry.
“We welcome this common-sense ruling, which will help our members not only drive operational efficiencies but also better meet growing customer needs for import services,” Sara Stickler, GCCA president and CEO, said in a news release. “We take great pride in the high standards of compliance that are delivered across the global cold chain, both at the point of export and import, and our proposals have been carefully considered to maximize consumer protection while improving supply chain efficiency.
“In a world of digital traceability and closely controlled supply chains, an arbitrary restriction on where an inspection facility must be located leads to unnecessary inefficiencies. This decision will unlock opportunities for providing high-quality, robust, and efficient import services provided by GCCA members. We remain committed to working with the FSIS to ensure that the U.S. remains one of the safest and most innovative food supply chains in the world.”
GCCA and MICA set out in the petition multiple reasons and mitigations for why this rule is arbitrary and unnecessary. The 50-mile policy is decades old, and significant changes have occurred in the supply chain over the last several decades that allow thorough and real-time tracking of shipments, alleviating many of the concerns that were in place when the policy was originally adopted. Further, shipping and transportation trends are moving toward increased utilization of inland ports of entry, and meat inspection should follow those broader trends.
In making the decision FSIS set out that instead of arbitrarily dismissing applications from facilities more than 50 miles from a port of entry, FSIS will consider factors such as the availability of inspection-program personnel to staff the establishment, the expected volume of product, and the hours the establishment would be operating. FSIS will assess these factors to help ensure potential official import inspection establishments have a consistent work schedule that would provide for the efficient and effective use of FSIS import inspection personnel.
