The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is publishing a final rule that will allow the importation of fresh beef from Paraguay. APHIS conducted a risk analysis and concluded that fresh beef can be imported safely from Paraguay under certain conditions. These conditions include verifying that:

• Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) has not been diagnosed in the exporting region in the past 12 months.
• The meat comes from premises where FMD has not been present during the lifetime of any of the animals.
• The animals were inspected before and after death.

These measures are consistent with the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, which governs, among other things, trade in animal products. As further detailed in the final rule, fresh — chilled or frozen — deboned beef will be eligible for import. APHIS expects beef imports to be fewer than 6,500 metric tons annually, in part due to a quota Paraguay faces on beef exports to the United States.

APHIS proposed this action in March 2023 and accepted public comment for 60 days following its publication. This final rule is available for preview here and will publish in the Federal Register the week of Nov. 13, 2023. The rule is effective 30 days after publication.

Source: USDA's APHIS