USDA Reauthorizes Netherlands to Export Pasteurized Egg Products to U.S.

Excerpt from: Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg Trade Report | June 08 2015

The Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced June 1 that The Netherlands has been reinstated to export pasteurized egg products to the United States after FSIS determined that its food safety system continues to be equivalent to that of the U.S.

According to an FSIS press release, The Netherlands was first found equivalent to export pasteurized egg products in 1987 but chose to stop exporting these products for several years. Following a request for reinstatement in 2014, FSIS performed a reassessment of the laws, regulations and inspection procedures maintained by The Netherlands to ensure that its government inspection system was still capable of ensuring protection equivalent to that provided by the FSIS system. FSIS also conducted an on-site audit, which is generally focused on performance within the following components: government oversight, statutory authority and food safety regulations, sanitation, HACCP system, chemical residue programs, and microbiological testing programs.