Food Safety and Inspection Service United States Department of Agriculture Washington, D.C. 20250-3700

Communications to Congress

March 2001

Meat, Poultry, and Egg Products Inspection
1999 Report of the Secretary of Agriculture to the U.S. Congress

Preface

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), a public health regulatory agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), is responsible for ensuring that the commercial supply of meat, poultry, and egg products in the United States is safe, wholesome, and accurately labeled, as required by the Federal Meat Inspection Act, the Poultry Products Inspection Act, and the Egg Products Inspection Act.

This report summarizes FSIS initiatives and accomplishments, domestic and export inspection activities, and foreign program review and reinspection activities in 1999. Information about domestic and export inspection is presented on a fiscal year basis to coincide with the congressional budget process. Information on review of foreign inspection systems and import reinspection is presented on a calendar year basis, as required by law.

Section I of this report describes the organization and responsibilities of FSIS.

Section II describes FSIS' fiscal year (FY) 1999 (October 1, 1998, through September 30, 1999) initiatives and accomplishments to better protect the public health and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Federal inspection system.

Section III  lists the enforcement actions that FSIS took during FY 1999.

Section IV gives a statistical summary of domestic and export inspection activities for FY 1999.

Section V provides a statistical summary of FSIS reviews of foreign inspection systems and import reinspection activities for calendar year 1999.

This annual report is submitted to the Committee on Agriculture of the U.S. House of Representatives and to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the U.S. Senate as required by sections 301(c)(4) and 20(e) of the Federal Meat Inspection Act, as amended (21 U.S. Code 661 and 21 U.S. Code 620); sections 27 and 5(c)(4) of the Poultry Products Inspection Act, as amended (21 U.S. Code 470 and 21 U.S. Code 454); and section 26 of the Egg Products Inspection Act, as amended (21 U.S. Code 1054).

Issued March 2001

Contents

1. Organization and Responsibilities of FSIS
   • Mission and Responsibilities 
2. Initiatives and Accomplishments
   • Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point System (HACCP) 
   • HACCP-Based Inspection Models Project 
   • Activities Regarding E. coli O157:H7 
   • Reducing Listeria–Related Illnesses 
   • Outbreak Investigations 
   • Dedication of FSIS Technical Service Center 
   • Workforce of the Future 
   • Federal-State Cooperation 
   • Civil Rights Activities 
   • Voluntary Dispute Intervention Program (VDIP) 
   • Special Reviews 
   • Enhanced Scientific Activities 
   • Environmental Issues 
   • Field Automation and Information Management (FAIM) 
   • Regulatory Reform 
   • Outreach Activities 
   • Food Safety Education 
   • Congressional and Legislative Activities 
   • President's Council on Food Safety 
   • International Food Safety 
3. Enforcement Activities
   • Detentions 
   • Administrative Enforcement Actions 
   • Administrative Consent Decisions 
   • Criminal Enforcement Actions 
   • Civil Enforcement Actions 
   • Pre-Trial Diversion Programs 
   • Emergency Activities
4. Domestic and Export Inspection
   • Meat and Poultry Inspection 
   • Egg Products Inspection 
   • Exports 
5. Foreign Program Review and Port-of-Entry Reinspection
   • Foreign Certification 
   • Meat, Poultry, and Egg Imports 
   • Import Certification 
   • Automated Import Information System (AIIS) 
   • Laboratory Sampling 
   • Codex Alimentarius Commission 

List of Tables and Exhibits

I.    Organization and Responsibilities of the Food Safety and Inspection Service

Mission and Responsibilities

It is the mission of the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to ensure that meat, poultry, and egg products prepared for distribution in interstate and foreign commerce for use as human food are safe, wholesome, and accurately labeled and packaged. FSIS administers and enforces the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA), the Poultry Products Inspection Act (PPIA), the Egg Products Inspection Act (EPIA), and the regulations that implement these laws. Oversight of the Agency is provided by the Under Secretary for Food Safety’s Office of Food Safety.

Responsibilities of FSIS to ensure food safety include the following:

• inspecting, before and after slaughter, poultry and meat animals intended for use as human food and inspecting processed meat and poultry products;

• inspecting, before and after breaking, eggs intended for further processing and use in human food and egg products;

• setting food safety performance standards for food ingredients, additives and compounds used to prepare and package meat, poultry, and egg products; for meat and poultry labels; and for certain slaughter and processing activities, such as plant sanitation and thermal processing, that the industry must meet;

• providing microbiological, pathological, chemical, and other scientific examinations of meat, poultry, and egg products for pathogens, disease, infection, extraneous materials, drug and other chemical residues, or other kinds of adulteration;

• conducting emergency responses, including retention, detention, or voluntary recall of meat, poultry, or egg products containing chemical, microbial, or other adulterants;

• conducting epidemiological investigations based on reports of foodborne health hazards and disease outbreaks;

• developing and implementing cooperative strategies to prevent food safety health hazards associated with animal production practices;

• reviewing and assessing the effectiveness of State inspection programs to ensure that standards at least equal to those under the Federal Acts are enforced;

• evaluating Agency programs to assess their effectiveness and efficiency in ensuring the safety of meat, poultry, and egg products for both internal clients, such as program managers and the Administrator, and external clients, such as Congress and the public;

• reviewing and assessing foreign inspection systems and facilities that export meat, poultry, and egg products to the United States to ensure that standards are equivalent to those in the United States; and reinspecting imported meat and poultry products at ports of entry and egg products at their destination or other locations;

• monitoring allied industries to prevent uninspected, unwholesome, or mislabeled meat, poultry, and egg products from illegally entering channels of commerce;

• providing public information to ensure the safe handling of meat, poultry, and egg products by food handlers; and

• coordinating U.S. participation in the Codex Alimentarius Commission and informing the public of the sanitary and phytosanitary standard-setting activities of the Commission.

Exhibit 1-1 Organizational Structure of the Food Safety and Inspection Service - PDF document [D]

Exhibit 1-2 Approved Major Field Operations Offices

NOTE: This exhibit shows Headquarters (Washington, DC), the Technical Service Center (Omaha, NE), and district offices in Salem, OR; Alameda, CA; Boulder, CO; Minneapolis, MN; Madison, WI; Des Moines, IO; Lawrence, KS; Springdale, AR; Dallas, TX, Chicago, IL; Jackson, MS; Pickerington, OH; Atlanta, GA; Albany, NY; Philadelphia, PA; Beltsville, MD, and Raleigh, NC. For detailed information, see list of current field offices.           

Forward to Section II

For Further Information Contact:
FSIS Congressional and Public Affairs Staff
Phone: (202) 720-3897
Fax: (202) 720-5704

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