USDA said it certified four processing plants in China’s Shandong Province to cook and ship poultry meat to U.S. customers, the latest step in a decade-old proposal. The consumer group Food and Water Watch faulted the Food Safety and Inspection Service for an “ill-conceived decision” and said “there have been scores of food safety scandals in China.” USDA added the four processing plants to its list of “eligible foreign establishments” on Wednesday. The Chinese plants are required to use “raw poultry meat…sourced from counties that have been determined by FSIS to have an equivalent poultry slaughter inspection system.”
In a “constituent update,” FSIS said it “will reinspect any product exported by the four establishments when it is brought to a United States port before it will be allowed into domestic commerce.”