Food Safety and Inspection Service 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, this notice announces that the Secretary of Agriculture signed the charter of the National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection (NACMPI) on July 25, 2007. The charter for the NACMPI is available for viewing on the NACMPI homepage at https://www.fsis.usda.gov/AboutFSIS/ NACMPICharter/index.asp.

The Office of the Under Secretary for Food Safety and the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) are sponsoring a public meeting on January 17, 2008. The objective of the public meeting is to provide information and receive public comments on agenda items and draft United States positions that will be discussed at the 8th Session of the Codex Committee on Milk and Milk Products (CCMMP) of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex), which will be held in Queenstown, New Zealand, February 4-8, 2008. The Under Secretary for Food Safety and the AMS recognize the importance of providing interested parties the opportunity to obtain background information on the 8th Session of the CCMMP and to address items on the agenda.

This notice is announcing that the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (FDA CFSAN), and the National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will co-sponsor a public meeting on October 17, 2007. The purpose of the meeting is to consider the public health significance of non-Escherichia coli (E. coli) O157:H7 Shiga toxin- producing E. coli.

The Office of the Under Secretary for Food Safety, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are sponsoring a public meeting on September 24, 2007, to discuss the agenda items coming before the First Session of the Codex Ad Hoc Intergovernmental Task Force on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) and to present draft U.S. positions on the agenda items. The First Session on AMR will be held in Seoul, Korea, October 23-26, 2007. The Under Secretary and FDA recognize the importance of providing interested parties the opportunity to comment on the agenda items that will be discussed at this forthcoming session on AMR.

This notice announces that the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF) will hold public meetings of the full Committee and subcommittees on September 24-28, 2007. The Committee will discuss: (1) Assessment of the food safety importance of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis, (2) Determination of the most appropriate technologies for the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to adopt in performing routine and baseline microbiological analyses, and (3) Parameters for inoculated-pack challenge study protocols.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regulations, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is announcing its intention to request a revision of an approved information collection concerning the regulatory requirements for marking, labeling, and packaging of meat, poultry, and egg products because of revised estimates, which support a finding of more total burden hours.

USDA's Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) and Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) jointly announce their implementation of the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program authorized in 2003 by the National Veterinary Medical Service Act (NVMSA) (7 U.S.C. 3151a) and first funded in fiscal year (FY) 2006. To enable the first phase of this program, and in keeping with the existing Federal Student Loan Repayment Authority, CSREES has made funds appropriated to carry out the NVMSA available to FSIS to facilitate their recruitment of food animal veterinarians for designated hard-to-fill positions in food safety and supply, especially in rural communities, through the addition of loan repayment incentives to qualifying service agreements. FSIS, in turn, has posted information about positions eligible to receive loan repayments on the careers page of its Web site at https://www.fsis.usda.gov/careers/StudentLoan RepaymentsVMO/index.asp.

Pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act, 5 U.S.C. App., the National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection (NACMPI) will hold a public meeting on August 8-9, 2007, to review and discuss the following issues: (1) Data Collection and Analysis at the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS): Standard Operating Procedures, (2) Linking FSIS Activities to its Public Health Goals, and (3) Pilot Project to Explore Mechanisms for Sharing Industry Data with FSIS. The first issue, Data Collection and Analysis at FSIS: Standard Operating Procedures, will be presented to the entire Committee for discussion during the morning session on August 8, 2007. The other two issues will be presented to the entire Committee in the afternoon session. The committee will then divide into two subcommittees. These subcommittees will meet in the afternoon of August 8, 2007, to discuss the issues Linking FSIS Activities to its Public Health Goals and Pilot Project to Explore Mechanisms for Sharing Industry Data with FSIS. Each subcommittee will provide a report of their comments and recommendations to the full committee on the morning of August 9, 2007.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is affirming, with changes, the interim final rule ``Prohibition of the Use of Specified Risk Materials for Human Food and Requirements for the Disposition of Non-Ambulatory Cattle,'' which was published in the Federal Register on January 12, 2004. The Agency is also affirming the interim final rule ``Prohibition of the Use of Certain Stunning Devices Used to Immobilize Cattle During Slaughter,'' also published on January 12, 2004. FSIS issued these interim final rules in response to the confirmation on December 23, 2003, of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in an imported dairy cow in Washington State. FSIS is taking this action to make permanent interim measures implemented by the Agency to minimize human exposure to cattle materials that could potentially contain the BSE agent.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regulations, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is announcing its intention to request a revision of an approved information collection regarding the regulatory requirements associated with the production of meat from Advanced Meat Recovery systems to reflect its most recent plant data, which support a finding of fewer total burden hours.

This notice informs the public of the sanitary and phytosanitary standard-setting activities of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex), in accordance with section 491 of the Trade Agreements Act of 1979, as amended, and the Uruguay Round Agreements Act, Public Law 103-465, 108 Stat. 4809. This notice also provides a list of other standard-setting activities of Codex, including commodity standards, guidelines, codes of practice, and revised texts. This notice, which covers the time periods from June 1, 2006, to May 31, 2007, and June 1, 2007, to May 31, 2008, seeks comments on standards under consideration and recommendations for new standards.

The Office of the Under Secretary for Food Safety, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), is sponsoring a public meeting on June 5, 2007. The objective of the public meeting is to provide information and receive public comments on agenda items and draft United States positions that will be discussed at the Thirtieth Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC), which will be held in Rome, Italy, July 2-7, 2007. The Under Secretary for Food Safety recognizes the importance of providing interested parties the opportunity to obtain background information on the 30th Session of CAC and to address items on the agenda.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is publishing this notice to articulate its position on the slaughter for human food of hogs and chickens from farms identified as having purchased or otherwise received pet food scraps that contain melamine and melamine- related compounds. The contaminated pet food scraps were used to supplement animal feed on farms in several States. The results of an interim safety/risk assessment indicate that, based on currently available data and information, the consumption of pork, poultry, eggs, and domestic fish products from animals inadvertently fed animal feed contaminated with melamine and melamine-related compounds is very unlikely to pose a human health risk. Based on the findings of the interim safety/risk assessment, as well as the results of validated testing for melamine concentration that has been conducted on tissue samples of hogs and chickens exposed to the adulterated feed, FSIS has determined that pork and poultry products from all animals identified as having been fed animal feed containing contaminated pet food scraps are ``not adulterated'' and are thus eligible to receive the mark of inspection. All such animals that were being held on farms have been released and may be offered for slaughter for human food.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regulations, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is announcing its intention to request an extension of an approved information collection regarding the procedures for notifying the Agency about new technology.

The Office of the Under Secretary for Food Safety, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, are sponsoring a public meeting on April 10, 2007. The objective of the public meeting is to provide information and receive public comments on agenda items and draft United States positions that will be discussed at the Thirty- fifth Session of the Codex Committee on Food Labelling (CCFL) of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex), which will be held in Ottawa, Canada, on April 30-May 4, 2007. The Under Secretary for Food Safety and FDA recognize the importance of providing interested parties the opportunity to obtain background information on the 35th Session of CCFL and to address items on the agenda.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regulations, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is announcing its intention to request a revision of an approved information collection regarding Listeria Control for Ready-to-Eat products to reflect its most recent plant data, which support a finding of fewer total burden hours.

The Office of the Under Secretary for Food Safety, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, are sponsoring a public meeting on March 8, 2007. The objective of the public meeting is to provide information and receive public comments on agenda items and draft United States positions that will be discussed at the Thirty- ninth Session of the Codex Committee on Food Additives (CCFA) of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex), which will be held in Beijing, China, on April 24-28, 2007. The Under Secretary for Food Safety and FDA recognize the importance of providing interested parties the opportunity to obtain background information on the 39th Session of CCFA and to address items on the agenda.

The Office of the Under Secretary for Food Safety, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, are sponsoring a public meeting on March 8, 2007. The objective of the public meeting is to provide information and receive public comments on agenda items and draft United States positions that will be discussed at the First Session of the Codex Committee on Contaminants in Foods (CCCF) of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex), which will be held in Beijing, China, on April 16-20, 2007. The Under Secretary for Food Safety and FDA recognize the importance of providing interested parties the opportunity to obtain background information on the 1st Session of CCCF and to address items on the agenda.

The Office of the Under Secretary for Food Safety, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), is sponsoring a public meeting on March 7, 2007. The objective of the public meeting is to provide information and receive public comments on agenda items and draft United States positions that will be discussed at the Twenty-fourth Session of the Codex Committee on General Principles (CCGP) of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex), which will be held in Paris, France, April 2-6, 2007. The Under Secretary for Food Safety recognizes the importance of providing interested parties the opportunity to obtain background information on the 24th Session of CCGP and to address items on the agenda.

This notice clarifies that flavor products, e.g., flavor bases, and blended and reaction/process flavors, with greater than 3 percent raw meat or poultry, or 2 percent or more cooked meat or poultry, in their formulation are amenable to Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) jurisdiction. Recent findings show that some manufacturers of flavor products formulated with significant levels of meat, meat byproducts, poultry, and poultry byproducts (e.g., 30-70 percent) are not aware that such products are under FSIS jurisdiction. These manufacturers need to take necessary steps to come under inspection.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is re-opening and extending the comment period on a petition submitted by Hormel Foods on the voluntary labeling claim ``natural'' and on the broader question of how to define this claim. The original comment period closed on January 11, 2007. The Agency is taking this action in response to requests that were made at and after a public meeting that the Agency held on December 12, 2006, to discuss both the Hormel petition and issues associated with the claim ``natural'' in general.