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

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 October 30, 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 40th Session of the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene (CCFH) of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex), which will be held in Guatemala City, Guatemala, from December 1-5, 2008. The Under Secretary for Food Safety and the FDA, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN), recognize the importance of providing interested parties the opportunity to obtain background information on the 40th Session of the CCFH and to address items on the agenda.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is issuing this notice to initiate a public process to review its policies regarding the approval of animal raising claims in the labeling of meat and poultry products. FSIS evaluates animal raising claims by considering information on animal production practices submitted by companies as part of their label approval requests. The Agency approves these claims if the animal production information submitted with the label application supports the claims being made and the claim is truthful and not misleading. The Agency's recent experience with labeling claims related to the raising of poultry have led FSIS to initiate a review of its evaluation and approval process for labels of meat and poultry products that contain animal raising claims. The Agency is publishing this notice to solicit public input and to announce that FSIS and the Agricultural Marketing Service will jointly hold a public meeting to discuss these issues.