December 24, 09

NEWS / CBP Agriculture Specialists Intercept Spanish Olives Stuffed with Serrano Ham

Miami - U.S. Customs and Border Protection agriculture specialists intercepted a shipment of 2,592 cans of Spanish olives stuffed with minced ham from Spain. The shipment was detained because the food product was coming from Spain, a country were Classical Swine Fever has been found to infect livestock. CSF is a highly contagious viral disease of pigs. The disease is currently not found in the United States but does occur in other parts of the world.

On December 1, CBP agriculture specialists along with U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Smuggling Interdiction and Trade Compliance officers were performing a routine inspection of maritime containers at the Port of Miami and discovered a container coming from Sevilla, Spain which contained 216 cases; each case contained 12 - 5.25 ounce cans of stuffed olives with minced Serrano ham product.


According to USDA, a product containing an animal ingredient entering the U.S. requires an USDA-Veterinary Services certificate and a country of origin certificate, which in this case was not produced by the shipper. The product was refused entry and re-exported to Spain under CBP supervision.


“U.S. Customs and Border Protection Field Operations in Miami is actively engaged in all aspects of our mission to protect the homeland. Our specialists and officers take great pride, and produce significant results in the performance of their duties,” said Harold Woodward, director of Field Operations for Customs and Border Protection in Miami.

http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/news_releases/12232009_2.xml