[Federal Register: December 23, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 246)]
[Notices]
[Page 74205-74206]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr23de03-33]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Food Safety and Inspection Service
[Docket No. 03-041N]
Public Meeting on New Technology: The State of Food Safety
Technologies To Enhance Public Health
AGENCY: Food Safety and Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of public meeting.
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SUMMARY: The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) will hold a
public meeting on January 13, 2004, to discuss the development and use
of new food safety technologies to enhance public health.
DATES: The public meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, January 13, 2004,
from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
ADDRESSES: The public meeting will be held at the Doubletree Hotel,
1616 Dodge Street, Omaha, NE 68102;
[[Page 74206]]
telephone (402) 346-7600. A tentative agenda will be available in the
FSIS Docket Room and on the Internet at http://www.fsis.usda.gov. An
official transcript of the meeting, when it becomes available, will be
kept in the FSIS Docket Room, Room 102 Cotton Annex, 300 12th Street,
SW., Washington, DC 20250-3700.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Perfecto Santiago, Executive
Associate for Program Development, at (202) 205-0699. Registration for
the meeting will be onsite. FSIS encourages attendees to pre-register
as soon as possible by contacting Ms. Mary Harris of the FSIS Strategic
Initiatives, Partnerships and Outreach Staff at (202) 690-6497 or by e-
mail to mary.harris@fsis.usda.gov or fax (202) 690-6500. If a sign
language interpreter or other special accommodations are necessary,
please contact Ms. Harris no later than December 31, 2003.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The 2003 FSIS Food Safety Vision Statement states that FSIS is
implementing several new initiatives in order to continue towards its
vision for food safety, including expediting the review and
implementation of safe interventions at slaughter and processing
plants. FSIS reviews new technologies that establishments plan to
employ to ensure that the use of these technologies is consistent with
agency regulations, and that the technologies will not adversely affect
product safety, inspection procedures, or the safety of FSIS inspection
program personnel. In August 2003, the Office of the Under Secretary
for Food Safety, United States Department of Agriculture, announced
that the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) had established a
New Technology Staff to streamline the implementation of new
technologies in an establishment's operations and to reduce the amount
of time it takes the agency to review these new technologies. The New
Technology Staff will place significant emphasis on fostering the
development and use of new technologies that can help reduce pathogens
on meat and poultry products.
One purpose of this public meeting is to promote and facilitate an
exchange of the latest information on new and emerging technologies of
public health significance. In particular, FSIS will use the meeting to
explore how small and very small plants can avail themselves of these
technologies in their operations. The Agency also intends to use the
meeting to explore ways to reduce the time between the development and
implementation of new technologies.
Main topics to be discussed at the public meeting are as follows:
(1) The Agency's new procedures and ways to expedite even further
the process for making promising food safety technologies available for
use, including ways that FSIS and stakeholders can work together to
make emerging technology more widely available. The stakeholders
include academia, state governments, industry, consumers, and other
government agencies. (2) Emerging technologies that have been
commercialized or will soon be commercialized. These new technologies
include the following categories:
a. Pre-slaughter operation interventions that treat the animal
before slaughter operations begin, such as hide treatment and bacteria
exclusion in the animal;
b. Decontamination methods during slaughter and processing
operations, such as antimicrobials being used on the carcass;
c. Sanitation interventions to decontaminate product contact
surfaces or to treat the environment in the slaughter and processing
areas to exclude or remove organisms such as Listeria monocytogenes.
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://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 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 December 17, 2003.
Garry L. McKee,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 03-31542 Filed 12-22-03; 8:45 am]