[Federal Register: August 4, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 149)]
[Notices]
[Page 45789-45790]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr04au03-16]
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Notices
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules
or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings
and investigations, committee meetings, agency decisions and rulings,
delegations of authority, filing of petitions and applications and agency
statements of organization and functions are examples of documents
appearing in this section.
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[[Page 45789]]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Food Safety and Inspection Service
[Docket No. 03-015N]
FSIS Safety and Security Guidelines for the Transportation and
Distribution of Meat, Poultry, and Egg Products; Notice of Availability
AGENCY: Food Safety and Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of Availability; Request for public comments and
information.
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SUMMARY: The Food Safety and Inspection Service is announcing the
availability of the Agency's current safety and security guidelines for
the transportation and distribution of meat, poultry, and egg products.
These guidelines were developed to assist facilities and shippers of
all sizes to improve food safety and security in the handling of FSIS-
regulated products. These guidelines include measures to improve food
security during the loading, transport, in-transit storage, and
unloading of meat, poultry, and egg products. In these guidelines, FSIS
strongly recommends that shippers and receivers, as well as
transporters, of these products develop controls for ensuring the
security of products through all phases of distribution. Such controls
are necessary to protect the products from intentional, as well as
unintentional, contamination.
The Agency has decided to collect and analyze data on these
transportation guidelines, which include both food safety and food
security components, and determine whether there is a need to adopt any
of these guidelines as regulations. Consequently, in this notice, FSIS
is asking a series of questions about the transportation guidelines to
solicit information from interested parties.
DATES: Submit written comments on the transportation guidelines and
answers to the questions to the FSIS Docket Room no later than October
3, 2003.
ADDRESSES: Submit one original and two copies of all written comments
on the proposed transportation guidelines and responses to questions
to: FSIS Docket Room, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and
Inspection Service, Room 102, Cotton Annex, Washington, DC 20250-3700.
All comments and responses received will be considered part of the
public record and will be available for viewing in the Docket Room
between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal
holidays. Copies of the FSIS Safety and Security Guidelines for the
Transportation and Distribution of Meat, Poultry, and Egg Products will
also be available in the FSIS Docket Room between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30
p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays and on the
Internet at: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/oa/topics/transportguide.htm.
Printed copies of the Guidelines may be requested from the USDA FSIS
Office of Congressional and Public Affairs, 1400 Independence Avenue
SW., Room 175, Washington, DC 20250-3700; telephone (202) 720-9113.
These guidelines are available in both English and Spanish.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Perfecto Santiago, Assistant
Deputy Administrator, Program Development Staff, Office of Policy and
Program Development, Food Safety and Inspection Service, U.S.
Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC 20250-3700; telephone (202)
205-0699 or fax (202) 401-1760.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
In May 2002, FSIS issued the FSIS Security Guidelines for Food
Processors to assist Federal- and State-inspected meat, poultry, and
egg product establishments in identifying ways to strengthen their food
security protection. At that time, the Agency noted that it would
continue to provide guidance to businesses engaged in the production
and distribution of FSIS-regulated foods, and work with the Food and
Drug Administration (FDA) and other agencies to provide guidance for
the handling of meat, poultry and egg products during transportation,
distribution, and storage.
FSIS recognizes that food producers, transporters, and distributors
have a vested interest in making food security, as well as food safety,
a top priority. FSIS will continue to seek input from stakeholders in
developing guidance on food security and food safety matters. To ensure
that the transporters and distributors of meat, poultry, and egg
products have access to information to help them protect the food that
they handle from threats, FSIS has developed the FSIS Safety and
Security Guidelines for the Transportation and Distribution of Meat,
Poultry, and Egg Products. These guidelines provide safety measures to
prevent physical, chemical, or microbiological contamination of food
products during transportation and storage, including measures that
deal specifically with the prevention of intentional contamination due
to criminal or terrorist acts.
Meat, poultry, and egg products are transported by air, sea, and
land. Hazards may be present, or intentionally introduced, at any point
during transportation and distribution, but are most likely to occur at
changes between transportation modes and during loading and unloading.
Meat, poultry, and egg products frequently are transported multiple
times and often stored and further processed on their way to the
consumer. These products could be exposed to hazards at each step in
that process. For example, a product might be transported from a
slaughter establishment to a raw-product processing establishment, next
to a further processing plant, then to a distribution center, and
finally to a retail market for purchase by the consumer.
The guidelines were developed to assist facilities and shippers of
all sizes, as well as Federal, State, and local authorities, to improve
food safety and security in the handling of FSIS-regulated products at
every step in the transportation and distribution process.
While these guidelines are voluntary, and parties may choose to
adopt measures suggested by many different sources, it is vital that
all parties in the transportation and distribution process for meat,
poultry, and egg products take steps to ensure the security of their
operations, the integrity of their processes and products, and the
continued safety of the products that they handle.
The first section of these guidelines provides food safety measures
that are
[[Page 45790]]
designed to help prevent contamination of food products during
transportation and storage. The second section of the guidelines deals
specifically with food security measures that may be taken to prevent
deliberate contamination as part of criminal or terrorist acts. Both
sections apply to all points of shipment from the processor to final
delivery at the retail store, restaurant, or other facility serving
consumers, as well as at any intermediate stops (i.e., intermediate
warehouses, transfer, and handling facilities such as airports, break-
bulk terminals, rail sidings, etc.) during shipment prior to final
delivery. These guidelines are applicable whether the potential
contamination occurs due to an intentional or unintentional act.
Implementation of these guidelines will assist all participants in the
transportation and distribution process in preventing such acts or in
responding to them effectively should they occur.
The food safety section of the guidelines has a long history of
development by FSIS. In February, 1995, the Pathogen Reduction/HACCP
proposed rule (60 FR 6774) was published and in this proposal FSIS
stated its commitment to develop standards to help ensure the safe
handling of meat and poultry products during transportation and
storage. A Technical Analysis Group (TAG) was used by FSIS and the
Department of Transportation (DOT) in April 1995, to address the safety
of food after it left the production facility and began to move through
commerce. The TAG identified the primary hazards associated with the
transport of perishable foods and recommended reasonable controls that
might be employed by industry to ensure food safety.
Subsequent to the TAG report, FSIS and FDA issued an Advance Notice
of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) on November 22, 1996 (61 FR 59372),
seeking information and comments on approaches the agencies might take
to foster food safety improvements that might be needed in the
transportation and storage of foods. Responses to the TAG Report and
the ANPR were used in the development of the food safety
recommendations in the FSIS Safety and Security Guidelines for the
Transportation and Distribution of Meat, Poultry, and Egg Products now
being made available to the public.
The food security section of the guidelines addresses the
possibility of deliberate attacks on the domestic food supply by
individuals or groups and is a direct result of heightened concerns
about homeland security that have resulted since the terrorist attacks
on September 11, 2001.
Request for Comments and Information
FSIS has decided to collect and analyze more data on the possible
impacts of these guidelines before deciding whether it should proceed
with rulemaking. The Agency invites public comment on how to strengthen
the safety and security of meat, poultry, and egg products during the
transportation and distribution process. The Agency is especially
interested in informed responses regarding both food safety and food
security to the following questions:
[sbull] Are there problems regarding food safety and food security
in the transportation, distribution, or storage processes that the
guidelines fail to address; or if all issues are addressed, are there
flaws in the approaches described in the guidelines?
[sbull] If the guidelines can be improved, how could they be
improved?
[sbull] Will transporters, distributors, and storage facilities
have difficulty complying with these guidelines? If so, what
difficulties do the guidelines pose? Would the guidelines pose greater,
or different, difficulties for small firms than for large firms?
[sbull] Should the Agency initiate rulemaking to adopt the
guidelines as regulations or will the guidelines be sufficiently
effective if they are only voluntary?
[sbull] Would mandatory implementation of these transportation
guidelines have any unusual or particularly significant impacts on any
portion of the food distribution chain? If so, who would be affected
and how?
[sbull] Would mandating these guidelines by regulation increase
costs to transportation, distribution, and storage facilities? If so,
would this result in increased costs to the consumer as the end user?
FSIS will consider all relevant comments in deciding whether any of
the transportation guidelines should be proposed as a regulation.
Should the Agency decide to propose a rule, it will summarize all of
the comments and information that it receives and include the summary
in the proposed rule.
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 online through the FSIS web page located at http://www.fsis.usda.gov.
The update is used to provide information regarding
FSIS policies, procedures, regulations, Federal Register notices, FSIS
public meetings, industry recalls, and any other types of information
that could affect or would be of interest to our constituents/
stakeholders. The constituent Listserv 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://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 in Washington, DC, on July 29, 2003.
Linda Swacina,
Acting Administrator.
[FR Doc. 03-19659 Filed 8-1-03; 8:45 am]