USDA recently announced that it has resolved an issue that temporarily halted all U.S. poultry products to Colombia.
Colombia’s Ministry of Agriculture in early June instructed all Colombian ports to deny import permits to any incoming poultry product shipments due to concerns about highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI).
Per a side letter affiliated with the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement, in force since 2012, Colombia must only refuse shipments of U.S. poultry products from U.S. counties impacted by HPAI, while other counties unaffected by the virus would remain able to ship product to the South American country.
USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), along with the U.S. Trade Representative, worked directly with Colombian officials to reverse the ban, allowing shipments already in transit and others readying for shipment to resume into the country.
