face appointments with label courier/expediting firms eliminated,
[Federal Register: July 27, 1998 (Volume 63, Number 143)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 40010-40012]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr27jy98-3]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Food Safety and Inspection Service
9 CFR Parts 391 and 381
[Docket No. 98-030N]
Meat, Poultry, and Egg Products Labeling Review Process; Elimination of Appointments With Label Courier/Expediting Firms
AGENCY: Food Safety and Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of procedural change; request for comments.
SUMMARY: The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is announcing a procedural change for reviewing labeling submitted to the Labeling Review Branch (LRB) of the Labeling and Compounds Review Division (LCRD). The new procedure will eliminate routine, daily, time-set, face-to-face appointments with label courier/expediting firms. Elimination of the daily, face-to-face appointments will not change the present system of labeling review and will not limit access to all LCRD staff. The labeling review staff will continue to receive and approve labels for meat, poultry, and egg products in a timely and orderly manner. However, the procedural change will lead to a more effective and efficient use of LRB staff time and enable staff to perform labeling reviews and other duties concurrently.
DATES: The change in procedures for labeling review will be effective September 10, 1998.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. William J. Hudnall, Assistant Deputy Administrator, Office of Policy, Planning and Evaluation; telephone (202) 205-0495 or FAX (202) 401-1760.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: FSIS has stated repeatedly its intent to increase the proportional share of its resources that are devoted to food safety. The Agency reorganization of 1996 reduced the number of administrative support positions, eliminated several management levels, improved supervisor-to-employee ratios, and restructured an expanded front line inspection workforce to perform more effectively. The Agency continues to seek ways to improve the efficiency with which it carries out its consumer protection activities that are not related to food safety. Therefore, FSIS is reviewing all operations in an effort to achieve greater efficiency while improving the level of consumer protection.
The Prior Label Approval System (PLAS) is conducted as part of the
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Agency's mandate to ensure that labeling for meat, poultry, and egg products is truthful, not misleading, and in compliance with the misbranding provisions of the Federal Meat Inspection Act, the Poultry Products Inspection Act, the Egg Products Inspection Act, and implementing regulations. FSIS streamlined the system in a final rule issued on December 29, 1995, (60 FR 67444) that became effective July 1, 1996, by expanding the categories of products for which labeling can be approved generically by industry. For example, the rule allows Federal establishments to design and use labeling that conforms to the regulatory requirements for meat, poultry, and egg products that have standards of identity and composition defined in the regulations (9 CFR 319 and 381) or in the Food Standards and Labeling Policy Book. The Agency also maintains a prior label approval system for reviewing and approving sketches and temporary labeling for certain categories of meat and poultry products that are not defined by standards of identity and composition; products that are prepared using novel production methods; products that are formulated with novel additives or ingredients; or products whose labeling bears nutrition, health, quality, or other types of claims.
The final rule on PLAS also indicated that the Agency would implement a Generic Labeling Audit System (GLAS) to determine the extent to which Federal establishments are applying labeling regulations and policies in approving generic labeling, in compliance with the regulations. The Agency is currently developing this audit system. The prospective goals of PLAS include developing and implementing GLAS simultaneously to conducting PLAS, and to devote more time to devising a prior approval system that will be more consistent with Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) systems and the labeling concepts of the future. The changes to PLAS and the development of a generic labeling system are based on concepts that are consistent with the Agency's effort to proportionally shift resources to food safety and to afford processors flexibility in preparing and modifying their labeling to fit their marketing needs.
Presently, labeling for meat, poultry, or egg products that requires prior approval is submitted daily for review and approval to the LCRD via regular mail; expedited mail and delivery services (such as Federal Express); personal visits to the division by company and trade representatives; and through the services provided by courier firms/expediter services located in the Washington, DC area. Labeling reviews for courier firms/expediter services are conducted during routine, daily, time-set, face-to-face appointments with labeling review staff during a 4-hour core time period each workday.
Representatives of courier firms/expediter services submit labeling for meat, poultry, or egg products for processors who choose to use their services. Each courier firm has a designated time period in a day to have its labeling reviewed by members of the Labeling Review Branch. During these time periods, courier firms could meet with up to four FSIS staff members in 1-hour intervals. FSIS believes that operating in this manner is no longer consistent with the efforts to better use personnel resources. The following factors compel the need to alter the current process:
‹bullet› An increase in the submission of labeling with complex technical issues has occurred. Greater concentration and more time are needed by the labeling review staff to evaluate labeling that reflects new initiatives within the industry. The current process of reviewing, approving, or rejecting labeling during daily, face-to-face labeling reviews does not allow this time.
‹bullet› Greater time is needed to research labeling policy issues, such as use of the novel additives not currently approved for use in meat, poultry, or egg products; chemical analysis reviews; variations in nutrition labeling claims; and labeling with animal production claims. Such comprehensive reviews require interaction among the division staff, and with other parts of the Agency, other Federal Agencies, and experts outside FSIS. However, daily appointments with courier firms have taken precedence over the other duties of the staff. Therefore, the effective use of labeling review staff time is restricted because half of the workday of the labeling review staff is devoted to the structured allotment of time for courier service.
‹bullet› Maintaining a fixed, daily schedule of face-to-face labeling reviews is no longer critical because the immediacy of the need for an on-the-spot labeling approval provided by someone on the labeling review staff has diminished. Before the December 1995 final rule on PLAS took effect, the division was responsible for approving essentially all labeling in both sketch and final form. However, effective July 1, 1996, this requirement changed. Of the labeling that must be submitted for prior approval now, only sketch labeling needs to be submitted. The industry need not submit such labeling in final form. This has shifted the issue of the timeliness of the approvals of final labeling to meet industry's marketing needs to one controlled by industry.
‹bullet› Given the diminished need for immediate, on-the-spot approval of labeling by labeling review staff, continuing the existing procedure is unfair to companies choosing to mail their labeling to the division or have company employees deliver it for them for review in person. Currently, labeling submitted by mail or submitted personally by processors is not given time for review that is equal to that given to labeling submitted by labeling courier firms/expediter services during face-to-face reviews. It is necessary that staff time be more equitably arranged to review labeling that is mailed to the branch or division or delivered by processors themselves by individuals representing meat, poultry, or egg processors. This can only be done by eliminating face-to-face reviews.
The division will continue to review and approve labeling in a timely and efficient manner and accommodate representatives of industry and other representatives who wish to meet with staff members for consultation on any issues relating to labeling, standards, or ingredients. Labeling approvals will be handled on a first-come, first- served basis, as they are delivered to the LCRD, including expedited labeling, labeling mailed directly to the division, and labeling delivered in person by representatives of the industry. As needed, representatives of industry and other representatives will have the opportunity to arrange appointments with division staff on a time- available basis to discuss novel product and ingredient issues and appeals, and to receive regulatory guidance. The LRB will continue, to the extent possible, to accommodate emergency situations regarding labeling approvals on a case-by-case basis. The Agency believes this procedural change will result in a more productive use of LCRD staffing resources, and most importantly, improve the quality of meat, poultry, and egg products labeling.
It is the Agency's intent to implement the policy described in this notice 45 days from the date it is published. However, the Agency is interested in receiving substantive comments within 30 days of publication on how it can better implement the procedural changes contained in the notice.
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Done at Washington DC, on: July 14, 1998. Thomas J. Billy, Administrator.
[FR Doc. 98-20002Filed7-24-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-DM-P
