National Advisory Committee on Meat & Poultry Inspection: Committee Responsibilities
| The framework for the Committee's agenda for the future will be set by identifying and addressing current food safety issues of concern to consumers and policy issues that affect USDA or any food regulatory agency. The major role of the Committee is to advise the Secretary of Agriculture on food safety policies that will contribute to USDA's regulatory policy development. The Committee will meet as a group on food safety concerns. Agency officials will present matters that are considered to be issues of concern with limited discussion taking place on the issue. The Committee would decide if further information is required on the issue, and if so, the Committee will assign the issue to a Sub-Committee for a thorough discussion and complete analysis of the issue, including recommendations. Sub-Committee Responsibilities Once the issue has been assigned, the Sub-Committee will meet separately from the Committee to discuss the issues at hand and prepare an outline listing all concerns. The Sub-Committee will develop an action plan that assigns tasks for members to perform and report back findings. After analysis is completed, the Sub-Committee will brief the Committee on its findings and present their recommendations. The Committee will have the option to either accept the Sub-Committee's findings and recommendations, or the Committee can request further information on the topic. If the Committee accepts the Sub-Committee recommendations, they are given to the Chairperson of the Committee to be forwarded to the Under Secretary for Food Safety for consideration for review by the Secretary of Agriculture. In summary, the actual organization and duties of the National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection consist of the following:
The Secretary of Agriculture will be provided with an informational memo through the Under Secretary for Food Safety on all issues discussed by the Committee. |