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Friday, February 12, 2021

Simmons Disappears From List of Firms Ineligible To Export To China

The Simmons Foods plant in Gentry, Arkansas, is no longer listed as being ineligible to export product to China, with no explanation offered by the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) for the sudden shift.

Earlier this week, FSIS posted a notice that export requirements for China had changed, listing the change as being the Arkansas plant as the third company in the state ineligible to export to China, effective February 7.

But a notation posted Wednesday (February 10), simply removed the Simmons plant from the list.

Typically, when a company is declared in ineligible to export to a country and then becomes eligible again, there is still a period of time when shipments from the firm are not allowed, but that is not the case with Simmons. Contacts indicate this could be a sign that the initial announcement of export ineligibility was in error.

It is not clear how much poultry/products Simmons had been exporting to China as contacts have indicated they believe the firm had not made any significant shipments to the country.