[Federal Register: January 25, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 17)]
[
Notices]
[Page 4516-4517]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr25ja08-35]
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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 4516]]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Food Safety and Inspection Service
[Docket No. FSIS-2008-0003]
National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection
AGENCY: Food Safety and Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of public meeting.
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SUMMARY: The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is announcing,
pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act, 5 U.S.C. App. 2, that
the National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection (NACMPI)
will hold a public meeting on February 5-6, 2008, to review and
discuss: (1) The planned public health-based slaughter inspection
system for young chickens and (2) how a similar approach could be used
for inspection in processing and other slaughter establishments. Both
issues will be presented to the full Committee. The Committee will then
divide into two subcommittees to discuss both issues. Each subcommittee
will provide a report of their comments and recommendations to the full
committee before the meeting concludes on February 6, 2008.
DATES: The Committee will hold a public meeting on Wednesday, February
5, and Thursday, February 6, 2008, from 8:15 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. The
subcommittees will hold open meetings during their deliberations and
report preparation.
ADDRESSES: The meetings will take place at the Key Bridge Marriott,
1401 Lee Highway, Arlington, VA 22209; telephone, (703) 524-6400. The
meeting agenda is available on the Internet at the NACMPI Web site,
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/about_fsis/nacmpi/index.asp.
The NACMPI meeting agenda, together with information and resource
materials on public health-based inspection, is also available on the
Internet at, http://www.fsis.usda.gov/regulations_&_policies/Public_
Health_Based_Inspection/index.asp
.
FSIS welcomes comments on the topics discussed at the NACMPI public
meeting. Comments may be submitted by any of the following methods:
Electronic mail: NACMPI@fsis.usda.gov.
Mail, including floppy disks or CD-ROMs: Send to National Advisory
Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection, United States Department of
Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service, 14th & Independence
Avenue, SW., Room 1180--South Building, Washington, DC 20250.
Hand- or courier-delivered items: Deliver to Faye Smith at 14th &
Independence Avenue, SW., Room 1180-S, Washington, DC. To deliver these
items, the building security guard must first call (202) 720-9113.
Facsimile: Send to Faye Smith, (202) 720-5704. All submissions
received must include the Agency name and docket number FSIS-2008-0003.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Contact Robert Tynan for technical information
at (202) 720-3884, or e-mail robert.tynan@fsis.usda.gov, and Faye Smith
for meeting information at (202) 720-9113, Fax (202) 720-5704, or e-
mail faye.smith@fsis.usda.gov. Persons requiring a sign language
interpreter or other special accommodations should notify Faye Smith at
the numbers above or by e-mail.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The NACMPI provides advice and recommendations to the Secretary of
Agriculture pertaining to the Federal and State meat and poultry
inspection programs, pursuant to sections 7(c), 24, 205, 301(a)(3),
301(a)(4), and 301(c) of the Federal Meat Inspection Act (21 U.S.C.
607(c), 624, 645, 661(a)(3), 661(a)(4), and 661(c)) and sections
5(a)(3), 5(a)(4), 5(c), 8(b), and 11(e) of the Poultry Products
Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 454(a)(3), 454(a)(4), 454(c), 457(b), and
460(e)).
The Administrator of FSIS is the chairperson of the Committee.
Membership of the Committee is drawn from representatives of consumer
groups; producers, processors, and marketers from the meat, poultry and
egg product industries; State and local government officials; and
academia. The current members of the NACMPI are: Ms. Kibbe M. Conti,
Northern Plains Nutrition Consulting, Rapid City, SD; Mr. Brian R.
Covington, Keystone Foods LLC, West Conshohocken, PA; Dr. Catherine N.
Cutter, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA; Dr. James
S. Dickson, Iowa State University, Ames, IA; Mr. Kevin M. Elfering,
Minnesota Department of Agriculture, St. Paul, MN; Mr. Mike W.
Finnegan, Montana Meat & Poultry Inspection Bureau, Helena, MT; Ms.
Carol Tucker Foreman, Consumer Federation of America, Chevy Chase, MD;
Dr. Andrea L. Grondahl, North Dakota Department of Agriculture,
Bismarck, ND; Dr. Joseph J. Harris, Southwest Meat Association, Bryan,
TX; Dr. Craig W. Henry, Food Products Association, Washington, DC; Ms.
Cheryl D. Jones, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA; Mr. Michael
E. Kowalcyk, DunnhumbyUSA LLC, Cincinnati, OH; Dr. Shelton E. Murinda,
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, CA; Dr. Edna Negron-
Bravo, University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez, PR; Dr. Michael L. Rybolt,
National Turkey Federation, Washington, DC; Mr. Mark P. Schad, Schad
Meats, Inc., Cincinnati, OH; and Dr. Stanley A. Stromberg, Oklahoma
Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry, Oklahoma City, OK.
The Committee will review a draft report outlining a public health-
based slaughter inspection system for young chickens. The components of
the planned system are science-based. The focus of the inspection
activities in this system are the points within the poultry slaughter
process that have the greatest risk for causing microbial or other
contamination on young chicken carcasses or otherwise rendering the
carcasses adulterated. These focused activities will be performed
within the regulatory framework of current FSIS inspection activities
regarding verification of Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point
systems, Sanitation SOPs, sanitation performance standards, and other
regulatory requirements. In addition, FSIS will utilize its inspection
resources, including performing Food Safety Assessments on poultry
slaughter establishments, as a means of assessing the design of an
establishment's inspection system and whether it is under control and
functions effectively.
[[Page 4517]]
FSIS is considering proposing to require that young chicken slaughter
establishments that participate in this inspection system meet public
health-based performance standards for microorganisms, such as
Salmonella and Campylobacter. FSIS is also considering to propose that
participating young chicken slaughter establishments meet a performance
standard for generic E. coli. FSIS is considering this standard as a
measure of sanitary conditions.
FSIS' traditional method of inspection for young chicken slaughter
establishments was designed before microbial contamination was
recognized as a leading cause of foodborne human illness. FSIS would
like to update the inspection system for young chicken slaughter
establishments so that it will function effectively with the
significant advances that have been made in the processing methods
employed by many of these establishments. FSIS believes that the
inspection system that it is considering will be better able to protect
public health because it will be better adapted to the methods being
used in slaughter plants. FSIS activities will likely focus on
establishments and points within the poultry slaughter process at which
microbial contamination of young chicken carcasses is likely to occur.
Similarly, FSIS believes that the performance standards it is
considering will decrease the amount of microbial contamination
occurring at the end of the poultry slaughter process.
An approach to inspection that focuses on points within an
establishment that present the greatest likelihood of causing microbial
and other contamination, and on those establishments with evidence of a
loss of process control, could also be applied to processing
establishments and to other slaughter establishments in addition to
those that slaughter young chickens. The Committee will also review a
draft report outlining how a public-health based inspection system
could be applied to those establishments and the scientific basis for
such a system.
All interested parties are welcome to attend the meetings and to
submit written comments and suggestions concerning issues the Committee
will review and discuss. The comments and the official transcript of
the meeting, when they become available, will be kept in the FSIS
Docket Room, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection
Service, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW., Room 2534, South Building,
Washington, DC 20250, and posted on the Agency's NACMPI Web site,
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/about_fsis/nacmpi/index.asp.
Members of the public will be required to register before entering
the meeting.
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/2008_Notices_Index/index.asp.
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 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 e-mail subscription service
consisting of industry, trade, and farm groups, consumer interest
groups, allied health professionals, scientific professionals, and
other individuals who have requested to be included. The Update also is
available on the FSIS Web page. Through Listserv and the Web page, FSIS
is able to provide information to a much broader, more diverse
audience.
In addition, FSIS offers an e-mail subscription service which
provides automatic and customized access to selected food safety news
and information. This service is available at http://www.fsis.usda.gov/
news_and_events/email_subscription/.
Options range from recalls to
export information to regulations, directives and notices. Customers
can add or delete subscriptions themselves, and have the option to
password protect their accounts.
Done at Washington, DC, on January 22, 2008.
Alfred V. Almanza,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 08-292 Filed 1-22-08; 11:39 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-DM-P