Prohibited Products Reach New Record Level at LA/LB Seaport
Marking 2022 as the busiest fiscal year ever, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agriculture specialists intercepted a total of over 1.2 million lbs. of prohibited pork, chicken, beef and duck products arriving from China at the Los Angeles/Long Beach (LA/LB) Seaport, America’s largest seaport complex.
This 2022 total (1,217,051 lbs.) represents a 7% increase from fiscal year 2021 (1,134,622 lbs.) and 162% increase from fiscal year 2020 (463,279 lbs.), the CBP release says.
As the total of prohibited products rises for the third year in a row, Donald R. Kusser, CBP port director of the LA/LB seaport notes, “Behind this concerning trend is the exponential increase in e-commerce purchases during the pandemic. Our agriculture specialists have done an outstanding job focusing on this threat, resulting in these record-breaking interceptions.”
Prohibited animal products, though in high demand in parts of the U.S., are not approved for consumption by any U.S. regulatory agency. These products are often found commingled in boxes of counterfeit products such as headphones, LCD tablets, cell phone covers, clothing, shoes and accessories, as well as household goods like kitchenware and trash bags, the release explains.
Foreign animal diseases, such as African swine fever (ASF), classical swine fever (CSF), foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) and highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) are among the threats considered in prohibited products from China and could be devastating to vital U.S. livestock resources in the case of an outbreak.
When prohibited products are intercepted, CBP issues an Emergency Action Notification (EAN) to initiate the destruction—through USDA-protocol incineration under CBP supervision—or re-exportation of the contraband.
In fiscal year 2022, the LA/LB seaport issued 1,288 EANs compared to 1,257 in the previous fiscal year, an increase of 2.4%, and 757 EANs in fiscal year 2020, a 70% increase in just three years, the release explains.
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