Food Safety and Inspection Service January 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is announcing new policies for the Agency's Salmonella Verification Sampling Program and related activities conducted in meat and poultry establishments. These changes include publication of completed FSIS verification sample set results for establishments that show inconsistency in their ability to meet Salmonella performance standards, beginning with those from young chicken slaughter establishments; a voluntary incentive-based program for meat and poultry establishments that should yield significant data on attribution of human illness to FSIS-regulated products; and increasing the Agency's use of targeted sampling approaches and collaborative serotype and subtype data. FSIS is taking these actions to advance its efforts to achieve the Agency's public health goal of significantly reducing human cases of salmonellosis. This Notice explains the basis for these actions and responds to comments received by the Agency on its Federal Register Notice of February 27, 2006 (71 FR 9772-9777) on Salmonella policy.

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 (HHS), are sponsoring a public meeting on February 5, 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 First Session of Ad Hoc Codex Intergovernmental Task Force on the Processing and Handling of Quick Frozen Foods (TFQFF) of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex), which will be held in Bangkok, Thailand on February 25-29, 2008. The Under Secretary for Food Safety and FDA recognize the importance of providing interested parties the opportunity to obtain background information on the First Session of TFQFF and to address items that will be on the agenda.