The U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has released a revised self-reporting tool (SRT), titled SRT v2022-001, which reflects changes to FSIS’ regulations for meat, poultry, and egg products. Foreign countries that import food to the U.S. are required to complete the SRT to demonstrate that their goods meet food safety and public health standards that are equivalent to those of FSIS. 

The SRT determines whether a country’s documented food safety inspection system is acceptable under FSIS’ foreign equivalence process based on the Codex Alimentarius Commission’s definitions of equivalence and sanitation. Countries that wish to export meat, poultry, or egg products to the U.S. must respond to questions and provide documentation for six categories:

  1. Government oversight
  2. Government verification of food safety and other protection requirements
  3. Government sanitation verification
  4. Government Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) system verification
  5. Government chemical residue program
  6. Government microbiological pathogen and process control programs.

The SRT v2022-001 can be found on the “Equivalence” page of the FSIS website under “Additional Resources.” FSIS is also working to revise the FSIS Responses to the SRT (v2019-001) to align with the SRT v2022-001 revisions.