isrev15--01/03/2004 

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Export Requirements for Israel

Eligible Products/Ineligible Products

  1. Eligible Product

    1. Frozen meat other than beef.*

      1. Kosher or non-kosher (if plant is approved for kosher), salted or unsalted, boned or deboned  lamb;

      2. Frozen organs derived from lamb or sheep, defined by the State of Israel (SOI) to include:

        (1) Bone-trimmed bones (humerus, radius, and ulna).

        (2) Brain-whole organ.

        (3) Cheek-trimmed masseter muscle; without mucosa and bony tissue.

        (4) Fat-fat harvested during cutting or deboning of meat intended for export to Israel excluding lymph nodes, subcutaneous or abdominal fat, and muscle or other tissue.

(5) Flank-the cut (including muscle) described as flank.

(6) Head of Sheep-whole sheep head, dislocated at the atlanto-occipital articulation excluding neck muscle, mandibular lymph nodes, esophagus, and horns.

(7) Heart-trimmed.

(8) Intestine-small or large intestine (salted or unsalted) cleaned, inverted and without omentum, anus or annexed striated muscle, and mucosa.

(9) Kidney-decapsulated and trimmed.

(10) Leg-foreleg only including the metacarpus, metatarsus and phalanges I, II, and III with overlying hairless skin, excluding hoof.

(11) Liver-trimmed whole organ.

(12) Spinal cord-without bony tissue.

(13) Spleen-trimmed.

(14) Stomach-thoroughly cleaned and trimmed rumen, reticulum, omasum and abomasum (salted or unsalted).

(15) Sweet bread-trimmed, without mandibular lymph nodes.

(16) Tail-coccygeal vertebrae from sacro-coccygeal articulation to the tip of the tail with overlying tissue; without skin.

(17) Tendon-trimmed with fibrous tissue only.

(18)Testicle-whole organ in tunica vaginalis without scrotum.

(19) Tongue-with or without epithelium and without bone, cartilage, tonsils or pharynx;

(20) Upper cervical vertebrae-the first two cervical vertebrae (Atlas and Epistropheus) of bovine not older than 6 months trimmed and without spinal cord or more than traces of muscular tissue.

(21) Any other tissues as specified in the Veterinary import permit.

NOTE: The organs listed above must be frozen within 48 hours of slaughter to maintain eligibility for export to Israel.

  1. Ineligible Products.

    1. Beef, beef products and by-products.*

    2. Unfrozen fresh red meats and poultry.

    3. Edible or inedible products for animal food or pharmaceutical purposes.


Facility Requirements

The facility and product handling and preparation requirements listed here are the responsibility of the establishment management and Rabbinical authority. FSIS personnel have no responsibility for certifying to the authenticity of the Kosher identification of the product.

  1. Slaughter

    1. Kosher slaughter restraining area floor is required to be graded in such a way as to facilitate drainage and prevent contact of the carcass with blood. A hand wash lavatory and knife sterilizer shall be provided at this location.

    2. The bleeding area shall be separated by a wall from the carcass dressing area to prevent contact by blood from animals in the sticking process with animals in the dressing process.

    3. An adequate number of handwashing basins and equipment cleaning tanks shall be installed near work stations. These are to be automatically operated and supplied with hot and cold water, soap, and means of sanitary hand drying.

    4. Provisions are required for Rabbinical examination of the thoracic cavity before complete opening of the brisket.

    5. An adequately lighted station is required for Rabbinical eviscerated lung inspection. Construction shall be of stainless material and shall be equipped with a grill or perforated plate, table sterilization (180° F) capabilities and a hand wash lavatory. A mechanical means for lung inflation is required.

    6. Offals are required to be adequately rinsed, followed by immersion chilling (32° F) and subsequently conveyed individually to a separate wrapping and packaging room, or the immersion chilling step may be replaced by blast freezing after packing in the shipping carton (hot packing).

    7. Harvesting and preparation of stomach and intestines shall be conducted in a separate room or area.

    8. Carcass coolers shall be maintained at 40° F or lower in temperature.

    9. It is recommended that the temperature in the slaughter area should not exceed 60.8° F.

  2. Cutting and Deboning.

    1. Deboning kosher-operations include de-veining, 30 minutes soaking/immersion (50° F or less temperature) in water in a container with continuous overflow, pickling or salting with clean rock salt on a perforated or well drained table, thrice quick-dip water rinsing (50° F or less) in a container with continuous overflow, and air dry/drain suspension to a reasonable texture.

    2. Cutting and deboning operations shall be confined in a designated separate room.

    3. Ambient temperature shall be maintained at 53.6° F or less.

    4. Meat will be chilled to an internal temperature not exceeding +7° C and be transferred directly from the coolers to the boning room. Meat intended to be salted may be transferred to the salting premises prior to cutting.

    5. During boning and cutting, the internal meat temperature should not rise over 7° C (44.6° F) and offals to 3° C (37.4° F).

    6. The boning process (cutting, packaging, and freezing) should be coordinated to prevent delays that could result in storing of incompletely prepared meat.

    7. The meat should not be wiped at any stage of the boning.

    8. Equipment in the koshering rooms (deboning, soaking, pickling/salting, quick-dipping, and draining) shall be made of stainless steel.

  3. Legs

    1. Specially designated separate areas and facilities for the preparation of legs (salting, scraping and packaging areas) will be allocated in the plant for this purpose.

    2. Legs are to be removed from the carcass, thoroughly cleaned and washed with water, and moved to the preparation area.

    3. Scraping. Will be performed with specially designated instruments in an area that is adequately ventilated to prevent offensive odors. Once completed, the legs should be moved to the packaging area.

  4. Meat Salting

    One of the procedures of the Jewish ritual preparation of meat is the salting procedure. The salting of meat intended for export to Israel will be done only on premises which have been approved specifically for this, utilizing the facilities, equipment, and techniques approved for this purpose. Contact ECD for details regarding the recommended structure of the salting procedure.

  5. Control and Recording of Temperatures in Processing and Storage Areas.

    1. The control and recording of temperatures shall be automatic. All refrigerated rooms shall be connected to a central thermorecorder.

    2. Thermometers displaying the current temperature shall be located above the external door to the cold store facilities.

    3. Thermorecorders recording the temperature in the processing rooms must be easily visible.


Labeling Requirements

  1. All labels must be bilingual.

  2. Consumer-sized (individually wrapped organs or products including wrapped chickens, tongues, livers, brains, and feet, etc.) packages shall comply with mandatory USDA labeling requirements. In addition to the mandatory labeling features in the U.S., the following information shall be included on the labels:

    1. Product name

    2. Identically-sized Hebrew letters.

    3. Country of origin.

    4. Name and address of importer.

    5. Date of manufacture, not in code.

    6. Expiration date, not in code (with month spelled out or abbreviated). Shelf life must not exceed one year for meat and six months for offal items.

  3. Label must identify both individual packages and cartons.

  4. Bulk Packaging. Products without individual wrappings are considered bulk and do not require consumer labeling.

  5. Kosher Certification. In order to maximize the marketing of U.S. products in Israel, kosher certifications from Israeli Religious Authorities are recommended.

    1. Labeling of a foodstuff as kosher requires the certification of a rabbi. By law, the chief rabbinate is responsible for kosher certification, but can delegate this authority to other rabbis.

    2. Ministry of Health authorizes labels, once the importer submits the rabbi's certificate and complies with all other health and safety requirements.

    3. The Ministry of Industry and Trade grants an import license.

    4. For additional information, contact:

      Director, Food Authority
      Ministry of Industry and Trade
      30 Agron St.
      Jerusalem

      Director General, Chief Rappinate
      58 Hamelelch George St.
      Jerusalem

      Director General, Chief Rappinate
      58 Hamelelch George St.
      Jerusalem


Documentation Requirements

  1. Certification

    1. Obtain FSIS Form 9060-5--Export Certificate of Wholesomeness.  The following statements are required to be typed in the "Remarks" section of FSIS Form 9060-5 or provided on FSIS letterhead certificate:

      "I, the undersigned official veterinarian, hereby certify that the meat/offals/meat products specified above are from animals that were approved for export to Israel following an antemortem and postmortem veterinary inspection as provided by law and regulations of the exporting country."

      "The said products conform with the requirements and procedures for the approval of slaughterhouses, meat boning, and cooling facilities for the export of meat and offals to Israel and are at the time of loading fit for human consumption."

    2. The following additional statement is to be typed in the "Remarks" section of FSIS Form 9060-5 if exporting bovine brain, spinal cord, thymus, spleen, and intestinal tract:

      "The animals from which these products derived had not been fed with ingredients of animal origin (except milk products)."

    3. Indicate the means of transport, ie) name of carrier, on the FSIS Form 9060-5.

    4. All export certification  must be signed by an FSIS veterinarian.


Handling/Storage Requirements

  1. Wrapping and Packaging.

    1. Wrapping and packaging of offals shall be done in a physically separated area/room maintained at 50° F or less.

    2. Wrapping and packaging of deboned/koshered meat shall be done in a separate room.

    3. Legs will be wrapped in polyethylene and placed in cardboard boxes. Metal wires and lead seals are not permitted in the wrappings.

    4. A storage room for packaging materials whall be connected with the packaging area.

    5. Packaging materials are to be hygienically stored.

    6. The whole process of chilling, boning, cutting, packaging, and freezing of meat to a temperature of -18° C shall be completed within 72 hours. The entire process for offals shall be completed within 36 hours.

  2. Freezing.

    1. Properly wrapped, packaged, and labeled product shall be transferred into on-premises freezer, or into an SOI approved off-premises freezer.

    2. Freezers shall be equipped with recording thermometers. They must maintain the internal temperature of meat and offals at a temperature not higher than -18° C.

    3. After packaging, the meat and offals (as defined by SOI) will be frozen to an internal temperature of -18° C within 36 hours for meat and 12 hours for offals.

    4. Legs will be frozen to an internal temperature of -18° C within 24 hours and stored at or below this temperature.

    5. An alarm system must be provided in the event of cooling failure.


Other Requirements

  1. Water Potability Samples

    1. Water samples for potability analysis shall be collected from a variety of points through the establishment every 2 months.

    2. Laboratory test results shall be kept in the FSIS inspector's office.

  2. Plant management must provide a statement to the inspector in Charge that assures the feeding requirement has been met before the product can be certified for export to Israel.

  3. If a plant intends to export Kosher cows' hind feet, a direct application must be made to the Director General of the Chief Rabbinate to schedule a plant inspection. Contact:

Rabbi Eitan Eisman
58 King George Street
Jerusalem, Israel 94262
phone 011-972-2-247112 fax 011-972-2-250274

  1. Exporters should be aware that Israeli importers must apply for certification of U.S. exporting plant(s) they intend to do business with. These requests for approval should be delivered in either May or in November/December of the year preceeding the import year. In this application, the importer agrees to bear the cost of an Israeli plant inspection.

  2. An annual medical certificate shall be required of any person working with meat or offal. This certificate shall attest that there is no impediment to such employment in the food industry.


Plants Eligible to Export

  1. Plant Approval

    Meat and poultry products shall originate and be prepared and stored in plants approved by the State of Israel. Plants and cold storages desiring to export meat and offals must meet the requirements listed here and submit an application (FSIS Form 9080-3)  to the FSIS Technical Service Center (TSC) in Omaha, Nebraska.  Contact FSIS TSC at (402) 221-7400 for information on applying for Israel plant approval.   Plants are required to be reviewed prior to final certification.

  2. List of Eligible Plants

    The list of kosher and non-kosher plants eligible to export to Israel is available in the FSIS Export Library. Exporters may also contact FSIS Technical Service Center at (402) 221-7400 for a copy.

isrev15---1/03/2004