[Federal Register: March 24, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 56)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 15017-15018]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr24mr05-13]
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Proposed Rules
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of
the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these
notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in
the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.
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[[Page 15017]]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Food Safety and Inspection Service
9 CFR Parts 301, 303, 317, 318, 319, 320, 325, 331, 381, 417, and
430
[Docket No. 04-001N]
Technical Meeting on Risk Assessments of Salmonella and of
Clostridium perfringens in Ready-to-Eat Meat and Poultry Products;
Notice of Availability and Public Meeting
AGENCY: Food Safety and Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of availability, announcement of public meeting, and
request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is announcing
the availability of, and requesting public comment on, two draft risk
assessments. The first is a quantitative risk assessment of Salmonella
in ready-to-eat (RTE) meat and poultry products. The second is a
quantitative risk assessment of Clostridium perfringens in RTE and
heat-treated, but not RTE, products. The Agency prepared the draft risk
assessments to provide scientific information in support of lethality
and stabilization performance standards that the Agency proposed for
the processing of such products in a notice of proposed rulemaking
published February 27, 2001 (66 FR 12590). FSIS is holding a public
meeting to present and discuss these draft risk assessments.
DATES: The public meeting is scheduled for March 24, 2005, from 9 a.m.
to 4 p.m. Submit written comments on the draft risk assessments on or
before May 9, 2005.
ADDRESSES: The public meeting will be held at the Holiday Inn on the
Hill, 415 New Jersey Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20001; telephone (202)
638-1616, Fax (202) 347-1813. A tentative agenda will be available in
the FSIS docket room (address below) and on the FSIS Web site at http://www.fsis.usda.gov/regulations_&_policies/2005_Notices_Index/index.asp
.
The draft risk assessments will be available by March 18, 2005 in
the FSIS docket room (address below) and on the FSIS Web site at http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Science/Risk_Assessments/index.asp
.
All comments and the official transcript of the meeting will be
available for viewing in the FSIS docket room when they become
available.
FSIS invites interested persons to submit comments:
On the two risk assessments, by any of the following methods:
Mail, including floppy disks or CD-ROM's: Send to Dr. Neal
Golden, Risk Analyst, Risk Assessment Division, Office of Public Health
Science, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW., Room 333 Aerospace Center,
Washington, DC 20250-3700.
Hand-delivered or courier-delivered items: Dr. Neal J.
Golden, Risk Analyst, RAD, OPHS, USDA, 901 D Street, SW., Rm. 333
Aerospace Center, Washington, DC 20024.
Electronic mail, to: Neal.golden@fsis.usda.gov.
On other matters relating to the proposed performance standards for
RTE products, by either of the following methods:
Mail, including floppy disks or CD-ROM's, and hand-or
courier-delivered items: Send to Docket Clerk, U.S. Department of
Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service, 300 12th Street, SW.,
Room 102 Cotton Annex, Washington, DC 20250.
Electronic mail, to:
fsis.regulationscomments@fsis.usda.gov.
All submissions received must include the Agency name and docket
number 04-001N.
All comments submitted in response to this notice, as well as
research and background information used by FSIS in developing the
documents referred to, will be available for public inspection in the
FSIS Docket Room at the address listed above between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30
p.m., Monday through Friday. The comments also will be posted on the
Agency's Web site at http://www.fsis.usda.gov/regulations_&_policies/2005_Notices_Index/index.asp
.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Pre-registration for this meeting is
encouraged. Please contact Diane Jones at (202) 720-9692 or
Diane.Jones@fsis.usda.gov. Persons requiring a sign language
interpreter should notify Ms. Jones as soon as possible.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On February 27, 2001 (66 FR 12589), FSIS published the notice of
proposed rulemaking (NPRM) ``Performance Standards for the Production
of Processed Meat and Poultry Products.'' These proposed performance
standards would require, among other things, that the processing
methods, such as heat treatments, fermentation, drying, or salt-curing,
used by each establishment that produces RTE meat or poultry products
achieve specific levels of pathogen lethality, in terms of a very low
probability that Salmonella organisms will survive or specific
log10 reductions of Salmonella in the products. FSIS also
proposed that each establishment that produces RTE or partially cooked
meat or poultry products use product stabilization processes, such as
cooling following a heat treatment, that limit multiplication of C.
perfringens to no more than 1 log10 and ensure no
multiplication of C. botulinum. Partly in response to comments received
on the NPRM, FSIS decided to conduct scientific risk assessments of the
proposed lethality and stabilization standards.
FSIS has recently completed a quantitative risk assessment of
Salmonella in RTE meat and poultry products. The risk assessment
provides important data that the Agency has been using in deciding
whether to adopt a lethality performance standard for the processing of
RTE products, and, if so, what the standard should be.
The Agency has also completed ``A Risk Assessment for Clostridium
perfringens in Ready-to-Eat and Partially Cooked Foods'' to estimate
the risk of diarrheal illness from C. perfringens growth during
stabilization of the products. The relative growth of C. botulinum
during stabilization was also evaluated. FSIS is using the information
from this risk assessment to develop a stabilization performance
standard for the processing of such products.
FSIS is making these risk assessments available to the public and
requests comment on them. The Agency is also
[[Page 15018]]
making available in the docket room reference materials used in support
of the risk assessments and additional data relating to the development
of the proposed performance standards, as requested in comments on the
NPRM.
Additional Public Notification
Public awareness of all segments of rulemaking and policy
development is important. Consequently, in an effort to ensure that the
public and, in particular, minorities, women, and persons with
disabilities are aware of this notice, FSIS will announce it on-line
through the FSIS Web page located at http://www.fsis.usda.gov/regulations/2005_Notices_Index/
.
FSIS also will make copies of this Federal Register publication
available through the FSIS Constituent Update, which is used to provide
information regarding FSIS policies, procedures, regulations, Federal
Register notices, FSIS public meetings, and recalls, as well as other
types of information that could affect or would be of interest to our
constituents and stakeholders. The update is communicated via Listserv,
a free electronic mail subscription service for industry, trade, and
farm groups, consumer interest groups, allied health professionals,
scientific professionals, and other individuals who have requested to
be included. The update is available on the FSIS Web page. Through
Listserv and the Web page, FSIS is able to provide information to a
much broader and more diverse audience.
In addition, FSIS offers an electronic mail subscription service
which provides an automatic and customized notification when popular
pages are updated, including Federal Register publications and related
documents. This service is available at http://www.fsis.usda.gov/news_and_events/email_subscription/
and allows FSIS customers to sign up
for subscription options across eight categories. Options range from
recalls to export information to regulations, directives, and notices.
Customers can add or delete subscriptions themselves and have the
option to protect their accounts with passwords.
Done at Washington, DC, on March 22, 2005.
Barbara J. Masters,
Acting Administrator.
[FR Doc. 05-5951 Filed 3-22-05; 2:28 pm]