WTO members are grappling with a surge in trade talks, highlighting the critical issues of food safety and animal/plant health. The recent World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting addressed a record 71 trade concerns, a significant increase from 56 in June. This surge includes 11 new specific trade concerns (STCs) raised for the first time, with India and Mexico contributing significantly. Among the new issues are Australia's delayed market opening for pork products and Thailand's suspension of beef and beef offal imports. Other concerns involve delays in listing fishery establishments by Saudi Arabia and Vietnam, Mexico's delayed reauthorization of shrimp imports, Indonesia's pathogen-free certificate and testing requirements for frozen shrimp, and the UK's relisting of seafood processing units. These developments underscore the ongoing challenges in ensuring food safety and animal/plant health across international trade. The meeting also revisited concerns about Vietnam's procedure for listing exporting establishments, with the EU reporting significant delays due to new requirements. Vietnamese authorities have committed to delisting non-compliant establishments starting in July 2025 and requiring the registration of all firms in the supply chain, not just exporters. Other key topics included Thailand's aflatoxin regulation in peanut kernels, EU pesticide maximum residue limits (MRLs), and meat import restrictions by the Philippines. The U.S. FDA's import alert 99-30 on detained milk products from China and melamine testing, as well as Chinese and Russian import restrictions on fishery products from Japan post-Fukushima, were also discussed. China attributed detentions to the absence of required test reports, leading to economic losses, while the U.S. provided evidence for over 30 companies to process products under normal import procedures. The meeting also highlighted transparency and cooperation efforts, with the establishment of the Transparency Working Group of the Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, aiming to enhance SPS notifications. Additionally, a project in five African countries under the Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF) seeks to strengthen the uptake of the Ping platform, an online tool for tracking SPS measures and technical trade barriers. Another event shared results and lessons from an external evaluation of STDF projects in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, focusing on addressing cadmium challenges in cocoa trade. The STDF and Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) are organizing a regional event on artificial intelligence (AI) for safe trade in Latin America and the Caribbean, scheduled for November 24-26.
