Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service June 23, 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

We are amending the phytosanitary treatments regulations to allow leaves of the California bay laurel (Umbellularia californica) to be treated with vacuum heat before being moved interstate from any area quarantined because of Phytophthora ramorum. This action will provide an alternative to the hot water dip that had been the only approved treatment for the greenery of host plants, which include California bay laurel leaves, but that ruined the suitability of the leaves for use as a dried spice.

In an interim rule published in the Federal Register on May 10, 2004, we amended the regulations concerning the importation of animals and animal products to prohibit or restrict the importation of birds, poultry, and bird and poultry products from regions that have reported the presence of the H5N1 subtype of highly pathogenic avian influenza and to establish additional permit and quarantine requirements for U.S. origin pet birds and performing or theatrical birds and poultry returning to the United States. In the preamble of the interim rule, we specified that the additional restrictions in part 94 would apply only to unprocessed bird and poultry products, but mistakenly omitted the word ``unprocessed'' in the rule portion; in this document, we are correcting this error.