On May 2, the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service reinstated Romania's eligibility to export to the U.S. processed (ready-to-eat and thermally processed/commercially sterile) pork products from certified Romanian establishments. The agency reviewed the country's documentation of its food safety inspection system and conducted an onsite verification audit from Aug. 31-Sept. 29, 2021. As a result, FSIS determined that Romania's raw and processed pork product laws, regulations and food safety inspection system achieve an equivalent level of protection as applied domestically in the United States.

Romania is eligible to use raw source materials from hogs slaughtered in certified establishments in the country. The country must also meet all USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service import requirements in order to export products to the United States.

APHIS recognizes Romania as free of swine vesicular disease with no special restrictions but is affected with African swine fever, classical swine fever and foot-and-mouth disease. 

The FSIS auditors concluded that Romania's raw and processed pork products inspection system is organized to provide ultimate control, supervision and enforcement of regulatory requirements. The National Sanitary Veterinary and Food Safety Authority has required that establishments that will be eligible to export products to the United States implement sanitary operating procedures and a HACCP system designed to improve the safety of their products. In addition, NSVFSA has implemented microbiological and chemical residue testing programs to verify its food safety inspection system.

When notification is made by APHIS of any disease restriction, NSVFSA emails the information to every one of the 42 Sanitary Veterinary and Food Safety Directorates and to government offices in establishments. The FSIS auditor verified NSVFSA has a system in place for notification of APHIS requirements and procedures for verification of requirements.

FSIS will routinely evaluate and verify the equivalence of Romania's food safety inspection system for raw and processed pork products through document reviews, verification audits and point-of-entry reinspection, as is done for all countries exporting to the United States. For more information, please view the 2021 audit report.