A record number of issues were discussed at the latest World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting on food safety.
Attendees at the November meeting of the WTO Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Measures addressed 71 trade concerns related to food safety and animal and plant health. In June, 56 trade concerns were covered.
In November, members raised 11 specific trade concerns (STCs) for the first time. India introduced four of them while Mexico was next with three.
New issues included Australia’s market opening delays for pork products and suspension of beef and beef offal imports in Thailand. Other concerns were Saudi Arabia’s delay in the listing of fishery establishments, Vietnam’s delay in listing sites for the export of fishery products, Mexico’s delay in reauthorizing shrimp imports, Indonesia’s pathogen-free certificate and testing requirement for frozen shrimp and the relisting of seafood processing units by the United Kingdom.
Melamine and Fukushima developments
Previous trade alerts raised again included the United States’ and European Union’s concern about Vietnam’s procedure for listing exporting establishments. The EU reported significant delays because of new requirements. Vietnamese authorities said non-compliant establishments would be delisted beginning in July 2025. Vietnam also required the registration of all firms involved in the supply chain, not just exporters. Other proposed changes reduced the testing frequency for Salmonella and E. coli but included a shift from testing for E. coli O157:H7 to a general E. coli reference.
Thailand’s aflatoxin in peanut kernels regulation of 20 micrograms per kilogram, EU pesticide maximum residue limits (MRLs), and meat import restrictions by the Philippines were discussed.
Other key topics included U.S. FDA import alert 99-30 on the detention of milk products from China and melamine testing as well as Chinese and Russian import restrictions on fishery products from Japan after the discharge of Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS)-treated water at Fukushima.
In a previous meeting, China said detentions were based on the absence of a U.S.-required test report, resulting in economic losses. The U.S. said more than 30 companies had provided sufficient evidence to the FDA for their products to be processed under normal import procedures.
Relevant projects
In early November, members held the first meeting of the Transparency Working Group of the Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures. The aim is to enhance transparency and cooperation on SPS notifications. The next meeting will be in February 2026.
Attendees also heard about a project in five African countries under the Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF). The initiative started in July.
Working with government officials and traders in Kenya, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda, the project seeks to strengthen uptake of the ePing platform — an online tool for users to track SPS measures and technical barriers to trade.
Another event shared results and lessons from an external evaluation of two STDF projects in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.
The projects piloted approaches to tackle cadmium challenges affecting cocoa trade, such as difficulties with sampling and laboratory testing, and a lack of regional coordination. Efforts were made to align standard operating procedures and help producers comply with Codex standards and maintain market access.
From Nov. 24 to 26, STDF and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) will organize a regional event on artificial intelligence (AI) for safe trade in Latin America and the Caribbean.
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