[Federal Register: August 2, 2002 (Volume 67, Number 149)]
[Notices]
[Page 50409-50411]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr02au02-24]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Food Safety and Inspection Service
[Docket No. 02-027N]
National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods
AGENCY: Food Safety and Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of public meeting; request for comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria
for Foods (NACMCF) will hold a public meeting on August 28, 2002. The
committee will continue to discuss (1) Salmonella performance standards
in meat and poultry products, (2) the scientific basis for establishing
safety-based ``use by'' date labeling for refrigerated, ready-to-eat
foods, (3) undertake a new topic of assessing the analytical utility of
Campylobacter
[[Page 50410]]
identification and quantification methodologies, and (4) introduce a
new topic discussing redefining the meaning of the term
``pasteurization.'' Subcommittees will also meet on August 26th
(performance standards), and the 27th and 29th (safety-based ``use by''
date labeling for refrigerated, ready-to-eat foods) to continue working
on issues in-progress that will be discussed during the full committee
session. In addition, a subcommittee will convene on August 6-8, 2002,
to continue its discussion of performance standards and discuss the new
charge to the committee regarding the FSIS Campylobacter baseline
studies.
DATES: The full Committee will hold an open meeting beginning at 9 a.m.
on Wednesday, August 28, 2002. During the week of the plenary session,
subcommittee meetings will be held on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday,
August 26, 27 and 29, 2002. Also, a subcommittee will meet Tuesday
through Thursday, August 6-8, 2002. Subcommittee meetings are open to
the public.
ADDRESSES: The August 27-29 subcommittee and full committee meetings
will be held at the Jurys Washington Hotel, 1500 New Hampshire Ave.,
NW., Washington, DC, 20036. The subcommittee meetings schedule for
August 6-8, and 26, 2002, will be held at the Aerospace Building, 901
``D'' St., SW., Washington, DC. The comments and all NACMCF documents
related to this meeting will be available for public inspection in the
FSIS Docket Room between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through
Friday. The comments and NACMCF documents will also be available on the
Internet at http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leavingFR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/rdad/Publications.htm. FSIS
will finalize an agenda on or before the meeting date and post it to
its Internet Web page. Send an original and two copies of comments to
the Food Safety and Inspection Service Docket Room: Docket #02-027N,
Room 102 Cotton Annex Building, 300 12th Street, SW., Washington, DC
20250. Comments may also be sent by facsimile (202) 690-0486. The
comments and the official transcript of the meeting, when they become
available, will be kept in the FSIS Docket Room at the above address.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Persons interested in making a
presentation, submitting technical papers, or providing comments should
contact Karen Thomas (202) 690-6620, Fax (202) 690-6334, e-mail
address: Karen.Thomas@fsis.usda.gov, or mailing address: Food Safety
and Inspection Service, Department of Agriculture, Office of Public
Health and Science, Aerospace Center, Room 333, 1400 Independence
Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250-3700. Persons requiring a sign
language interpreter or other special accommodations should notify Ms.
Thomas, by August 16, 2001.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The NACMCF was established on April 18, 1988, in response to a
recommendation of the National Academy of Sciences for an interagency
approach to microbiological criteria for food, and in response to a
recommendation of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on
Appropriations, as expressed in the Rural Development, Agriculture, and
Related Agencies Appropriation Bill for fiscal 1988. The Charter for
the NACMCF is available for viewing on the FSIS Internet Web page at
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leavingFR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OA/programs/nacmcf_chart.htm.
The NACMCF provides scientific advice and recommendations to the
Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Health and Human Services
on public health issues relative to the safety and wholesomeness of the
U.S. food supply, including development of microbiological criteria and
review and evaluation of epidemiological and risk assessment data and
methodologies for assessing microbiological hazards in foods. The
Committee also provides advice to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention and the Departments of Commerce and Defense. Dr. Merle
Pierson, Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety, USDA, is the Committee
Chair, Dr. Robert E. Brackett, Director for Food Safety, Center for
Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Food and Drug Administration, is the
Co-Chair, and Brenda Halbrook, FSIS, is the Director of the Executive
Secretariat office.
At the August 28, 2002, meeting, the Committee will
Discuss Salmonella performance standards in meat and
poultry products;
Discuss the scientific basis for establishing safety-based
``use by'' date labeling for refrigerated, ready-to-eat foods; and
Undertake a new topic of assessing the analytical utility
of Campylobacter identification and quantification methodologies.
Introduce a new topic discussing redefining the meaning of
the term ``pasteurization.''
Documents Reviewed by NACMCF
FSIS intends to make available to the public all materials that are
reviewed and considered by NACMCF regarding its deliberations.
Generally, these materials will be made available as soon as possible
after the full committee meeting. Further, FSIS intends to make these
materials available in both electronic format on the FSIS web page, as
well as hard copy format in the docket room. Often, an attempt is made
to make the materials available at the start of the full committee
meeting when sufficient time is allowed in advance to do so.
FSIS also intends to post all comments associated with this docket
on its web page in the near future. FSIS reserves the right to redact
any offensive language that may have been included in these public
comments. The uncensored text will be made available in the FSIS Docket
Room.
For electronic copies, all NACMCF documents and comments are
electronic conversions from a variety of source formats into HTML that
may have resulted in character translation or format errors. Readers
are cautioned not to rely on this HTML document. Minor changes to
materials in electronic format may be necessary in order to meet the
Web Accessibility Act requirement in which graphs, charts, and tables
must be accompanied by a text descriptor in order for the vision
impaired to be made aware of the content. FSIS will add these text
descriptors along with a qualifier that the text is a simplified
interpretation of the graph, chart, or table. Portable Document Format
(PDF) and/or paper documents of the official text, figures, and tables
can be obtained from the FSIS Docket Room.
Copyrighted documents will not be posted on the FSIS web site, but
are available for inspection in the FSIS docket room.
Additional Public Notification
Public awareness of all segments of rulemaking and policy
development is important. Consequently, in an effort to better ensure
that minorities, women, and persons with disabilities are aware of this
notice, FSIS will announce it and make copies of this Federal Register
publication available through the FSIS Constituent Update. FSIS
provides a weekly Constituent Update, which is communicated via
Listserv, a free e-mail subscription service. In addition, the update
is available on-line through the FSIS Web page located at http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leavingFR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.fsis.usda.gov. The update is used to provide information regarding
FSIS policies, procedures, regulations, Federal Register notices, FSIS
public meetings, recalls, and any other types of information that could
affect or would be of interest to our constituents/stakeholders. The
constituent Listserv
[[Page 50411]]
consists of industry, trade, and farm groups, consumer interest groups,
allied health professionals, scientific professionals, and other
individuals that have requested to be included. Through the Listserv
and Web page, FSIS is able to provide information to a much broader,
more diverse audience.
For more information contact the Congressional and Public Affairs
Office, at (202) 720-9113. To be added to the free e-mail subscription
service (Listserv) go to the ``Constituent Update'' page on the FSIS
Web site at http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leavingFR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.fsis.usda.gov/oa/update/update.htm. Click on the
``Subscribe to the Constituent Update Listserv'' link, then fill out
and submit the form.
Done at Washington, DC, on July 30, 2002.
William J. Hudnall,
Acting Administrator.
[FR Doc. 02-19529 Filed 8-1-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-DM-P