FSIS Seeking Comments on Petition to Establish Enforceable Standards for Salmonella Types and Campylobacter

On January 25, 2021, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, on behalf of several individuals and consumer advocacy organizations, petitioned FSIS to initiate rulemaking to: 1) Create enforceable poultry finished product standards for Salmonella types of the greatest public health concern and Campylobacter and 2) Require establishments to identify and control food safety risks within their supply chains. The petition states that the requested performance standards should reduce, with an aim to ultimately eliminate, Salmonella types of the greatest public health concern from raw poultry, while continuing to target reductions in Salmonella and Campylobacter overall.

FSIS is seeking comments on this petition and anticipates that the Agency may receive a significant number of comments.  Interested persons may submit comments online via the Federal eRulemaking Portal at https://www.regulations.gov/docket?D=FSIS-2021-0003; by mail, including CD-ROMs, sent to Docket Clerk, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service, 1400 Independence Avenue SW, Mailstop 3758, Washington, DC 20250-3700; or by hand or courier-delivery to 1400 Independence Ave, SW, Jamie L. Whitten Building, room 350-E, Washington, DC 20250-3700. All comments must include the agency name and identification number FSIS-2021-0003. 

Comments on this petition will be made available for public inspection and posted without change, including any personal information, to: https://www.regulations.gov/docket?D=FSIS-2021-0003. Comments should be submitted by April 6, 2021.

Consumer Food Safety Education Virtual Conference to be Held March 9-12

The Partnership for Food Safety Education will hold its annual Consumer Food Safety Education Conference virtually from March 9-12, 2021. The event will bring together federal partners to talk about safe food handling, the latest food safety education research, and the creative outreach programming of BAC Fighters, an active network of 13,000 health and food safety educators.

To sign up, visit the registration page.  For further information about the conference contact cfsec2021@fightbac.org or (202) 688-3260.

Export Requirements Update

The Library of Export Requirements has been updated for products for the following countries:

• Canada 
• Iraq
• Mexico

Complete information can be found at https://www.fsis.usda.gov/inspection/import-export

Policy Update

FSIS notices and directives on public health and regulatory issues are available at https://www.fsis.usda.gov/policy. The following policy update was recently issued:

FSIS Notice 06-21 - Cancellation of FSIS Directives