Reminder: USDA Launches Loan Guarantee Program 

USDA is accepting applications for its Food Supply Chain Guaranteed Loan Program that will guarantee loans of up to $40 million to help eligible entities expand meat and poultry processing capacity and finance other food supply chain infrastructure. The program aims to address food system challenges dating back decades and further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. These investments will help essential processing and supply chain infrastructure that will eliminate bottlenecks in the food supply chain and ultimately deliver more opportunities and fairer prices for farmers. USDA is accepting electronic applications from lenders through the Food Supply Chain Online Application System until funds are expended.

For more details, please view the December 10, 2021 Constituent Update, visit the USDA Rural Development website, view the Federal Register notice, and read the Department press release.   

FSIS Posts Updated Quarterly Humane Handling Datasets

FSIS updated the quarterly humane handling inspection datasets on its website. The posting contains the most recent four quarters of data by district, HACCP size, and quarter. The datasets include:

• the number of administrative enforcement actions taken,
• the number of humane handling verification tasks performed,
• the number of humane handling verification tasks that resulted in a noncompliance record, and
• the number of hours spent observing and verifying the humane treatment of livestock.

For more information, please click here.

FSIS Posts Quarterly Sampling Data

FSIS has updated the following quarterly sampling data sets:

• Quarterly U.S. National Residue Sampling Report – Residue sampling data is available for the first quarter of fiscal year (FY) 2022. The report covers domestic (scheduled and inspector-generated) and import sampling programs. 
• Quarterly Sampling Results - The quarterly sampling data has been updated to include results through the fourth quarter of FY2021. Quarterly, FSIS calculates prevalence, volume weighted percent positive, or percent positive calculations for microbial pathogens in FSIS regulated products that are currently sampled through existing sampling projects using the prior 12 months of sampling data. This posting includes percent positive results for Siluriformes in addition to sampling results for raw beef, raw pork, raw chicken, raw turkey, processed eggs, and ready-to-eat products.
• Quarterly Sampling Reports on Antimicrobial Resistance Profile - This data release includes the sampling projects and pathogens reported under the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS). It also includes the antimicrobial resistance data on pathogens Salmonella, Campylobacter, Enterococcus, Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC), including E. coli O157:H7, isolate counts and resistance profile by FSIS product and cecal categories, through the fourth quarter of FY2021.
• Quarterly Sampling Reports for Salmonella Serotype Information - This post includes quarterly Salmonella serotype data for Salmonella isolates collected from FSIS product categories. This release includes serotype data through the fourth quarter of FY2021.

Policy Update

FSIS notices and directives on public health and regulatory issues are available on the FSIS Policy webpage. The following policy update was recently issued:

FSIS Directive 9010.1 - United States Exported and Returned Products - Revision 2

Export Requirements Update

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

• China
• European Union

Complete information can be found at the FSIS Import & Export Library.