FSIS Posts Annual Summaries of Consumer Complaints

FSIS has posted annual summaries of consumer complaints entered into the agency’s Consumer Complaint Monitoring System (CCMS) for the years 2015, 2016, and 2017. Consumer complaints provide data that supports FSIS’ surveillance and response activities, enabling the agency to identify and investigate reports of potentially unsafe meat, poultry and egg products in commerce and evaluate trends over time. The summaries provide information on how consumers report complaints to FSIS, the types of complaints reported, and complaint outcomes. FSIS plans to post the consumer complaint summaries annually for the previous year going forward. To view the reports, please visit: https://www.fsis.usda.gov/science-data/data-sets-visualizations.

Label Updates on Removal of Jambalaya from Policy Book

As announced in last week’s Constituent Update, FSIS has removed the entry for jambalaya from the Food Standards and Labeling Policy Book.

This change is effective immediately, and establishments may revise their existing labels generically under 9 CFR 412.2, provided the label change does not impact previously approved special statements and claims. If the label change affects previously approved special statements or claims, the establishment is required to resubmit the label to the FSIS. Additional information about generic label approval can be found at https://www.fsis.usda.gov/guidelines/2024-0001.

The revised policy book can be found at http://www.fsis.usda.gov//guidelines/2005-0003.

To review the petition and response, visit http://www.fsis.usda.gov/policy/petitions. 

For additional questions about the change, submit questions via askFSIS (https://askfsis.custhelp.com/) or contact FSIS’ Label and Program Delivery Staff by phone at 301-504-0878.

Policy Update

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

• Notice 17-19 – Follow up Sampling in Raw Poultry Establishments not Meeting Salmonella Performance Standards

Export Requirements Updates

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

• Australia
• Canada
• Germany
• Grenada
• Japan
• Mexico
• Trinidad & Tobago

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