Meat and poultry inspection: based concepts,

[Federal Register: July 29, 1998 (Volume 63, Number 145)]

[Proposed Rules]

[Page 40381-40382]

From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

[DOCID:fr29jy98-15]

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Food Safety and Inspection Service

9 CFR Parts 309, 310, 381, and 417

[Docket No. 98-009N]

HACCP-Based Meat and Poultry Inspection Concepts: Diseases and Conditions Identifiable During Post-Mortem Inspection

AGENCY: Food Safety and Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of availability and request for comments.

[[Page 40382]]

SUMMARY: The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is making available for comment a paper that lists two categories of livestock and poultry diseases and conditions observed at post-mortem inspection. One category is comprised of diseases and conditions that the Agency believes pose food safety risks or hazards. The other category is comprised of diseases and conditions that present other consumer protection issues. FSIS has developed the list as part of its HACCP- Based Inspection Models Project.

DATES: To receive full consideration, comments should be received by September 28, 1998.

ADDRESSES: The document ``HACCP-Based Inspection Models Project: Diseases and Conditions Observable in Meat and Poultry'' may be viewed at the FSIS Docket Room, Room 102 Cotton Annex Building, 300 12th Street, SW., Washington, DC 20250-3700. An electronic version of the document is available on-line at FSIS's homepage at http:// www.fsis.usda.gov. Written comments on the document may be sent in triplicate to FSIS Docket Clerk, DOCKET #98-009N, Room 102 Cotton Annex Building, 300 12th Street, SW., Washington, DC 20250-3700.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Patricia F. Stolfa, Assistant Deputy Administrator, Office of Policy, Program Development and Evaluation, Food Safety and Inspection Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC 20250-3700; (202) 205-0699.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

FSIS is carrying out a project to develop and test new methods for the inspection during slaughter of certain market classes of animals and their meat and poultry products produced under the Agency's ``Pathogen Reduction; Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point Systems'' (PR/HACCP) final rule (61 FR 38806; July 25, 1996). This project is designed to develop, in plants, these approaches to slaughtering inspection of young, healthy and uniform animals and birds that are consistent with the HACCP/PR regulation, and to explore the possibility of redeployment of some inspection resources from these plants in ways that will enhance food safety protection all along the farm-to-table continuum. It will also help define the respective responsibilities of FSIS and the regulated industry in slaughter and processing establishments, and in distribution channels outside of inspected establishments.

In a June 10, 1997, Federal Register notice, ``HACCP-Based Meat and Poultry Inspection Concepts,'' FSIS requested public comment on the design and development of new inspection models for slaughter and processing in a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) environment (62 FR 31553). This notice summarized the National Academy of Sciences and General Accounting Office's recommendations that FSIS reduce its reliance on organoleptic (sensory) inspection and redeploy its resources to utilize regulatory approaches that are based on risks. To accomplish these objectives, new inspection models or methods must be developed, and these must be consistent with the meat and poultry inspection laws as well as systems put in place by the PR/HACCP final rule.

A June 24-25, 1997, public meeting, which the notice announced, provided a forum for dialogue between FSIS and all parties interested in the project. This project has also been discussed at the September 9-11, 1997, January 13-14, 1998, and May 12-14, 1998, meetings of the National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection. It will also be discussed at FSIS' July 27 public meeting on its HACCP-based Inspection Models Project for Slaughtering establishments.

Diseases and Conditions that Pose Food Safety Risks vs. Ones That Pose Other Consumer Protection Issues

As part of the development of new inspection models or methods that are consistent with the meat and poultry inspection laws and with systems put in place by the PR/HACCP final rule, animal diseases and conditions observable at post-mortem inspection that pose food-safety hazards or risks need to be distinguished from diseases and conditions that present other consumer protection issues. In the past, the Agency has not made this distinction because, under the traditional approach to inspection, resources are not assigned according to public-health risk.

HACCP, however, focuses on hazards. The diseases and conditions listed in the paper are examples of potential hazards that, in the future, establishments might consider when conducting their hazard analyses and in developing their HACCP plans or, with respect to the non-food-safety-related conditions, in developing slaughter process control programs.

The first category of diseases and conditions listed in the paper is comprised of diseases and conditions that pose food-safety hazards or risks (within the meaning of 9 CFR 417.1 and 417.2(a)); the second is comprised of animal diseases and conditions that pose other consumer protection issues. Meat and poultry products affected by diseases and conditions in either category are to be removed from the human food supply in the interests of consumers, because diseases and conditions in either category would adulterate the food.

Because FSIS has not previously delineated these categories, and because establishments are not now expected to have categorized diseases and conditions in this manner, FSIS determined that it would be useful to have a broad base of comments on the list. The list was developed by Agency experts based, in part, on informal consultations with their colleagues outside the Agency and the Government.

In the course of the HACCP-Based Inspection Models project, the volunteer establishments will decide how best to remove adulterated carcasses and parts from the food supply, and FSIS will decide how best to verify that only safe, wholesome products are entering commerce. These decisions will depend, in part, on knowing which diseases and conditions affect food safety (controlled by HACCP systems) and which are aesthetic conditions (but are subject to slaughter process controls). The paper, ``HACCP-Based Inspection Models Project: Diseases and Conditions to be Removed from Meat and Poultry'' is intended to inform project participants and the public of the Agency's views on this subject. The paper is available for review at the location indicated above in ADDRESSES.

Done at Washington, DC, on: July 22, 1998. Thomas J. Billy, Administrator.

[FR Doc. 98-20172Filed7-28-98; 8:45 am]

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