Conditions for importing meat products from Paraguay

On this page

1. Meat inspection systems recognized

1.1 Bovine: slaughter, cutting, and deboning.

2. Types of meat products accepted for import

Only the following types of meat products are allowed to be imported from Paraguay:

2.1 Deboned, pH matured fresh beef meat and raw meat products (chilled or frozen) derived only from bovine of Paraguayan origin see sections 3.1, 4.1 and 4.2 for certification attestations required.

Precursor materials, such as trims and bench trims, primal and subprimal cuts from pH matured skeletal muscle only are allowed.

Note: Ground beef or veal, finely textured beef or veal, mechanically separated beef or veal meat, hearts, head meat, cheek meat, tongue roots, weasand meat is not allowed.

Products not accepted for imports:

  • bovine casings
  • bovine meat by-products
  • veal meat

3. Animal health certification attestations required on the Official Meat inspection Certificate (OMIC)

3.1 For deboned, pH matured fresh beef meat and raw meat products (chilled or frozen) derived from bovine of Paraguayan origin.

"I hereby certify that the meat and/or meat products covered by this certificate:

3.1.1  Were derived from bovine which:

  1. were born, raised and slaughtered in Paraguay
  2. have remained in Paraguay, a country where cattle are regularly vaccinated against Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD), where official controls are in operation and where there has been no outbreak of FMD, nor evidence of FMD virus infection within the last 12 months
  3. have been vaccinated at least twice against FMD, with the last vaccination not more than 12 months and not less than one month prior to slaughter
  4. did not come from holdings that have been placed under official veterinary controls with regards to any notifiable or reportable disease of bovine animals
  5. were resident on the same farm in Paraguay for at least 30 days prior to being shipped for slaughter; and FMD has not occurred within a 10 kilometer radius of the farm premises during that period
  6. have been transported in a vehicle which was cleansed and disinfected before the cattle were loaded, directly from the establishment of origin to the approved abattoir without coming into contact with other animals of a lesser zoosanitary status
  7. have been subjected to ante-mortem inspection within 24 hours before slaughter, followed by post-mortem inspection for FMD including a thorough examination of the four feet and mouth of every animal with favourable results
  8. were slaughtered in an approved abattoir, officially eligible for export to Canada, and in which FMD has not been detected during the period between the last disinfection carried out before slaughter and the shipment for export
  9. were not subjected to a stunning process, prior to slaughter, with a device injecting compressed air or gas into the cranial cavity, or to a pithing process involving laceration, after stunning of the animal, of the animal's central nervous tissue by means of an elongated rod-shaped instrument that is introduced into the animal's cranial cavity

3.1.2 Were prepared from deboned carcasses:

  1. from which all visually identifiable lymphatic nodes (including, but not limited to prescapular, axillary, inguinal, popliteal) have been removed and represent carcass meat for human consumption which do not include any meat or by-products of the head, feet, diaphragmatic muscle and viscera
  2. which, prior to deboning, have been submitted to maturation at a temperature above +2°C for a minimum period of 24 hours following slaughter and in which the pH value was below 6.0, when tested electronically, in the middle of both the longissimus dorsi muscles
  3. Paraguay complies with the conditions of Article 11.4.4 of the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) Terrestrial Animal Health Code
  4. every precaution was taken to prevent any direct or indirect contact during the slaughter, handling, processing and packaging of the meat products, with any animal product or by-product derived from animals of a lesser zoosanitary status

4. Other certification attestations required on the OMIC

4.1 For meat and meat products derived from pH matured bovine carcasses considered as precursor material for the preparation of finished raw ground beef products including, but not limited to trims and bench trims (trims derived from primal and sub-primal cuts)

"I hereby certify that the meat and/or meat products covered by this certificate:

  • 4.1.1 Are considered as precursor material for the preparation of finished raw ground beef products and were tested for the presence of E. coli O157:H7/NM according to procedures described in Control Measures for Escherichia coli O157:H7/NM in Raw Beef ProductsFootnote 1, and
  • 4.1.2 Were tested in a laboratory accredited according to ISO 17025 standards (for example, a laboratory that is formally recognized by an accreditation body that is a signatory to the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) as conforming to the requirements of ISO/IEC 17025:2005), and
  • 4.1.3 The test results were recorded on a certificate of analysis indicating that E. coli O157:H7/NM was not detected, and
  • 4.1.4 The said certificate of analysis is issued in one of Canada's official languages (English or French) and is attached to this certificate."

4.2. For all meat and meat products derived from animals of Paraguayan origin:

"I hereby certify that the meat and/or meat products covered by this certificate:

  • 4.2.1 Have been derived from animals that were humanely rendered unconscious in a reversible or irreversible manner prior to being bled, or were slaughtered as per Judaic or Islamic law, and
  • 4.2.2 Are derived from animals which have been handled in the slaughterhouse before and at the time of slaughter or killing in accordance with the relevant provisions laid down in the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations including having a written Preventive Control Plan covering animal welfare, including a description of the measures for preventing or eliminating a risk of avoidable suffering, injury or death to the food animal during their handling and slaughtering, and the evidence that those measures are effective, and
  • 4.2.3 Meet Canadian requirements for water retention in edible raw red meat products, in the case of raw beef meat products."

5. Establishments eligible for export to Canada

5.1 Refer to the Foreign countries establishments eligible to export meat products to Canada

Date modified: