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FSIS to Hold Regulatory Education Sessions for Small and Very Small Plants
FSIS will hold regulatory education sessions on September 8 and 9, for the owners and operators of small and very small plants in Idaho.
The sessions will cover a regulatory walk-through of the sanitation standard operating procedures, hazard analysis and critical control point and rules of practice regulations.
The regulatory education sessions will be held at the following locations:
September 8, from 6:30 - 9:00 p.m., at the Ramada Inn Pocatello, 133 W. Burnside Avenue, Pocatello, Idaho; and
September 9, from 2:00 - 4:30 p.m., at the Red Lion Inn, 1800 Fairview Avenue, Boise, Idaho.
To register by phone, call (800) 336-3747. Online registration forms and information about upcoming sessions
can be found at http://www.fsis.usda.gov/News_&_Events/
Outreach_Sessions_SVS_Plants/index.asp.
Additional regulatory education sessions will be held on September 12, in Madison, Wis.; September 18, in Austin, Texas; September 19, in Albany, N.Y. and St. Louis, Mo.; and September 20, in Covina, Calif.
FSIS Posts Compliance Guideline for Small and Very Small Plants Appealing Inspection Decisions
FSIS has posted on its Web site the compliance guideline for small and very small plants appealing inspection decisions.
The agency developed the compliance guide for using the appeals process when appealing FSIS decisions as one of the action items in its implementation plan for strengthening small and very small plant outreach. The guideline will help small and very small plants understand how to use the appeals process.
The compliance guide includes information about the appeals process, a step-by-step noncompliance record appeal outline, guidance regarding written versus verbal appeals, typical appeal response timelines, a notice of intended enforcement challenge procedure outline and a relevant appeals process question and answer section.
Small and very small establishments can use this guideline to better understand the appeals process and to use this process to make an appeal in accordance with 9 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 306.5 and 9 CFR 381.35.
The compliance guide for small and very small plants appealing inspection decisions is available on FSIS' Web site at
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/regulations_&_policies/
Compliance_Guides_Index/index.asp.
FSIS to Issue Directives and Notices
FSIS publishes directives and notices to enable the agency to carry out its mission of protecting public health. Within the next month, FSIS expects to issue the following directives and notices:
Directives
5420.4, Revision 3 - OIA Food Defense Verification Procedures. This directive is being revised to make activities that import inspection program personnel perform consistent with those of in-plant inspection program personnel.
5420.3 - OPEER Food Defense. This directive updates procedures for FSIS' Office of Program Evaluation, Enforcement and Review.
7000.1 - Verification of Non-Food Safety Consumer Protection Regulatory Requirements. This directive provides updated instructions for verifying compliance with the regulatory requirements designed to provide consumer protections other than food safety. It also issues new inspection system procedures for the 04 and 05B procedures.
Notices
Nationwide Young Chicken Microbiological Baseline Data Collection Program. This notice provides information to inspection program personnel at establishments participating in the FSIS Nationwide Microbiological Baseline Data Collection Program for Young Chickens.
Use of Training Material. This notice clarifies that training materials may be used to find supporting documentation for hazard analysis and critical control point validation, but training materials are not sufficient to support validation.
FSIS Issues Notice on Temporary Suspension of Provision in the Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) Ongoing Surveillance Program
FSIS issued Notice 52-06 on August 25, titled, Temporary Suspension of Provision in the Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) Ongoing Surveillance Program.
Until further notice, inspection program personnel should not collect brain samples under the provisions of paragraph II. A. of FSIS Notice 51-06, Sample Collection from Cattle Under the Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) Ongoing Surveillance Program, except as follows: for cattle of any age that are condemned on ante mortem for central nervous system disease, the FSIS public health veterinarian (PHV) is to identify the animal with a "U.S. Condemned" tag to ensure that it is humanely euthanized, and not allow it to move off the premise of the establishment. Then, the PHV should contact the APHIS area veterinarian-in-charge (AVIC) so the AVIC can collect the brain sample.
FSIS will notify inspection program personnel by means of a subsequent FSIS notice when they will begin collecting samples under the provisions in paragraph II. A. 2.
Contact FSIS' Technical Assistance and Correlation Division at 800-233-3935 with questions regarding Notice 52-06.
Export Requirement Updates
The Library of Export Requirements has been updated to reflect changes in export requirements for the following:
- Canada
- Guatemala
- Japan
- Republic of Korea
Complete information can be found at: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Regulations_&_Policies/
Export_Information/index.asp.
Export Tip of the Week
Korea, Mexico and Russia have banned poultry meat from the State of Michigan because of findings of low pathogenic avian influenza (AI) in swans.
According to USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), these mute swans were resident wild birds, not migratory birds, and there is no reason to believe the birds that tested positive had any connection with commercial poultry.
APHIS has also indicated that according to the World Organization for Animal Health Office of International Epizooties National Standards, findings of this virus in wild birds should be no basis for any country to impose trade restrictions on the United States and our commercial poultry.
FSIS is hopeful that the bans will be lifted in the near future. The agency urges inspectors to check the country requirements prior to certifying product destined for Korea, Mexico and Russia.
For additional information, call FSIS' Office of International Affairs at (202) 720-3473.
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Last Modified:
September 1, 2006 |
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