Due to the risk of spreading African swine fever, travelers attempting to enter the US with Dominican pork products are subject to a $300 fine.
The U.S. Embassy in the Dominican Republic has issued a bulletin telling people not to travel internationally with pork products from the country.
The bulletin said travelers attempting to enter the U.S. with Dominican pork products can be subject to a US$300 fine.
The bulletin, issued August 8, reads:
“Individuals traveling to the United States or to other international destinations from the Dominican Republic should not travel with pork products due to the country’s ongoing African swine fever outbreak. Products such as chicharrón, longaniza, jamón, salami, jamoneta, and sancocho should not be taken on international trips. Individuals who travel to the United States with pork products purchased in the Dominican Republic can be subject to a $300 fine. The seizure of the pork-derived product can also cause unnecessary delays in travelers’ trips, which is why individuals are highly discouraged from traveling internationally with these products. While ASF is not a threat to human health and cannot be transmitted from pigs to humans, it’s important that we all do our part in preventing the spread of ASF by not traveling with it internationally.”
The warning was issued due to the presence of African swine fever (ASF) in the Dominican Republic. ASF was confirmed in the Dominican Republic in July 2021, the first time the virus had been detected in the Western Hemisphere in 20 years. After this development, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) established a foreign animal disease (FAD) protection zone in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands and subsequently suspended movement of pigs and pig products from Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to the mainland. The federal order was revised three months later to allow certain swine products to safely move to the mainland United States from Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as long as they meet certain conditions.
In September 2021, ASF was confirmed in pigs in Haiti for the first time since 1984. Haiti shares the Caribbean island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic.
View our continuing coverage of the African swine fever outbreak.
