This proposal comes at the request of the Mexican Government and the state of Nayarit. APHIS conducted a risk evaluation that indicates the region is free of CSF.

In addition to changing the CSF status of Nayarit, this proposal would also add Nayarit to the list of CSF-affected regions that must meet certain certification requirements to ensure their freedom from CSF in order to export live swine, pork and pork products to the United States. Although Nayarit is considered CSF free, the state is located adjacent to regions that are still considered infected.

In order to export to the United States, Nayarit would have to certify the products’ origin, move and process pork products in CSF-free zones and require that all processing facilities be inspected by the government of Mexico.

Nayarit is not a major swine production area. In 2004, 34 commercial swine farms were in Nayarit, with a population of 30,634 animals. This rulemaking is unlikely to have a significant effect on U.S. pork and pork products markets as Mexico is mainly an importer of U.S. pork. In 2004, Mexico exported approximately 3.2 percent or 36,000 metric tons of their total pork production.

These actions would relieve certain CSF-related restrictions on the importation of pork, pork products, live swine and swine semen from Nayarit into the United States while continuing to protect against the introduction of this disease into the United States.

CSF, a highly contagious viral disease of swine, was eradicated from the United States in 1978 after a 16-year effort by the industry, and state and federal government agencies.

ThePigSite News Desk