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

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regulations, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is announcing its intention to renew the approved information collection regarding business registration requirements. The approval for this information collection will expire on July 31, 2022. FSIS is not making any changes to the approved collection.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regulations, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is announcing its intention to collect information using a web-based survey/experiment to help gauge consumer awareness and understanding of current ``Product of USA'' labeling claims on meat (beef and pork) products and consumer willingness to pay (WTP) for meat products labeled as ``Product of USA'' using the current and potentially revised definitions of the claim. FSIS also intends to collect information on consumer understanding of other ``USDA'' labeling on meat products, such as the ``USDA Choice'' label and the USDA mark of inspection. This is a new information collection with an estimated annual burden of 1,815.1 hours.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is soliciting nominations for membership for the National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection (NACMPI). The full Committee consists of 20 members, and each person selected is expected to serve a 2-year term. The USDA is announcing Committee vacancies to minority businesses and organizations, consumer groups, businesses, media, local and state governments, and academia to attract and appoint diverse candidates. The USDA expects to appoint new Committee members for the entire committee in 2022.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regulations, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is announcing its intention to revise the approved information collection regarding laboratories. The approval for this information collection will expire on March 31, 2022. FSIS is reducing the burden hours for this collection by 12 hours because FSIS discontinued the Pasteurized Egg Product Recognized Laboratory Form, PEROL-F-0008.05.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is correcting its regulations requiring official plants that process egg products (herein also referred to as ``egg products plants'' or ``plants'') to develop and implement Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) Systems and Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (Sanitation SOPs) and to meet other sanitation requirements consistent with FSIS' meat and poultry regulations.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is announcing that the Republic of Poland (Poland) is eligible to export poultry products to the United States. FSIS has reviewed Poland's poultry laws, regulations, and inspection system, as implemented, and has determined that they are equivalent to the Poultry Products Inspection Act (PPIA), the regulations implementing this statute, and the United States food safety inspection system for poultry products. Therefore, poultry products derived from poultry slaughtered and processed in certified Polish establishments are now eligible for export to the United States. All such products will be subject to reinspection at United States points-of-entry by FSIS inspectors. Applicable: Poland's poultry products eligible for import to the United States will be added to the FSIS Import Library (https:// www.fsis.usda.gov/importlibrary) on October 7, 2021.

On October 29, 2020, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) published the final rule, ``Egg Products Inspection Regulations,'' which, among other things, announced that FSIS would begin exercising jurisdiction over plants that produce egg substitutes and freeze-dried egg products on October 30, 2023. This notice provides information to foreign countries that already export these products to the United States, as well as countries interested in exporting these products to the United States, about submitting their equivalence documentation to FSIS so that the Agency can begin assessing their eligibility before October 30, 2023.

Pursuant to the provisions of the rules and regulations of the Department of Agriculture and the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is announcing a virtual meeting of the National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection (NACMPI). The purpose of the Committee is to provide advice to the Secretary of Agriculture concerning State and Federal programs with respect to meat, poultry and processed egg products inspection, food safety, and other matters that fall within the scope of the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA), and the Poultry Products Inspection Act (PPIA). The committee will convene virtually on September 27 and 28, 2021, in a public meeting where FSIS will present two sets of charges to the Committee: (1) To consider how FSIS should clarify the Agency's positions on the custom and retail exemptions to ensure that meat, poultry, and egg products produced under the exemptions are safe, wholesome, and correctly labeled and packaged and (2) to consider actions FSIS should take to prevent and reduce illnesses associated with the handling or consumption of frozen, raw, stuffed not ready-to- eat (NRTE) poultry products, which may be breaded and par-fried and may appear ready-to-eat (RTE) to consumers.

This document corrects the Regulation Identifier Number that appeared in a final rule published in the Federal Register on July 15, 2021, regarding the inspection of yak and other bovidae, cervidae, and camelidae species.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is proposing to end the program under which FSIS inspectors provide fee-for-service certification that certain foods for dogs, cats and other carnivora (pet food) are produced under sanitary conditions and meet compositional and labeling requirements. The certified pet food regulations are outdated, and no firms are currently paying for FSIS certification services for pet food. Further, the fact that both USDA and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspect pet food has led to industry and consumer confusion, and both agencies agree that stakeholders will benefit from the simplification of Federal jurisdiction over pet food.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is announcing that it has updated two of its guidelines for minimizing the risk of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) in beef slaughter (including veal) and processing operations. Additionally, FSIS is responding to comments on the guidelines.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regulations, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is announcing its intention to request a new information collection to reduce overtime and holiday inspection fees for small and very small meat, poultry, and egg products establishments. This is a new information collection with an estimated annual burden of 724 hours. FSIS is reducing holiday and overtime fees under the American Rescue Plan Act, enacted on March 11, 2021. Through this legislation, Congress provided FSIS with $100 million in budget authority to reduce the costs of overtime inspection for small and very small official meat and poultry establishments and egg products plants.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is proposing to amend its regulations to establish a uniform time period requirement for the filing of appeals of certain Agency inspection decisions or actions.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regulations, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is announcing its intention to revise the approved information collection regarding partner collaboration in response to illness outbreaks associated with FSIS-regulated food products. The Agency has increased the burden estimate by 48 hours due to an increase in the number of respondents and a longer estimated response time. The purpose of this information collection continues to inform FSIS partner outreach efforts to effectively investigate and prevent foodborne illnesses. The approval for this information collection will expire on February 28, 2022.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is announcing the dollar limitations on the amount of meat and meat food products and poultry and poultry products that a retail store can sell to hotels, restaurants, and similar institutions without disqualifying itself for exemption from Federal inspection requirements.

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 revise the approved information collection regarding its Public Health Information System (PHIS). The Agency has increased the burden estimate by 433 hours due to the addition of the FSIS Form 9060-5EP, Egg Products Export Certificate of Wholesomeness. FSIS is currently issuing FSIS Form 9060-5 (meat and poultry) and 9060-5S (Siluriformes) export certificates for 38 countries and territories through the PHIS export component (i.e., providing an electronic export certificate application for exporters and the FSIS Form 9060-5/5S printed on security paper). At this time, FSIS is seeking OMB approval to collect information for the existing paper FSIS Form 9060-5EP. FSIS will request additional approval for the electronic collection of information when egg products are added into the PHIS export component. FSIS will announce its plans to add egg products to the PHIS export component through a subsequent notice to the public, likely through the Agency's Constituent Update. The approval for this information collection will expire on August 31, 2022.

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 renew the approved information collection for animal disposition reporting in the Public Health Information System. There are no changes to the existing information collection. The approval for this information collection will expire on September 30, 2021.

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 revise the approved information collection regarding its Consumer Complaint Monitoring System (CCMS) web portal. The Agency has increased the burden estimate by 575 hours due to increased use of the Agency's updated, more user-friendly web portal that supports more direct communication. The approval for this information collection will expire on September 30, 2021.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is proposing to amend its regulations to require official meat and poultry establishments and egg products plants and businesses receiving voluntary inspection services from FSIS that have an internet connection to provide FSIS access to it for the purposes of conducting and recording inspection verification activities. FSIS views internet service as a necessary utility, like lighting, heating, and laundry services, that should be provided by establishments as a regulatory condition of receiving inspection. Under this proposal, FSIS would not require establishments without internet access to purchase it or to upgrade the internet services they have, if inadequate for FSIS use.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is announcing the availability of an updated version of the guideline for industry on how to respond to customer complaints of meat and poultry products contaminated with foreign materials. FSIS originally published the guideline in March 2019. Additionally, FSIS is responding to comments received on the March 2019 guideline.

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 renewal of the approved information collection regarding labeling requirements for raw meat and poultry products that do not meet the standard of identity regulations and to which solutions have been added. There are no changes to the existing information collection. The approval for this information collection will expire on June 30, 2021.

Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is correcting a final rule that published on October 29, 2020. The final rule requires official plants that process egg products (herein also referred to as ``egg products plants'' or ``plants'') to develop and implement Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) Systems and Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (Sanitation SOPs) and to meet other sanitation requirements consistent with FSIS's meat and poultry regulations.

FSIS is proposing to revise the regulations prescribing the statistical methods used in measuring the performance of chemistry laboratories in its voluntary Accredited Laboratory Program (ALP) and to expand the scope of accreditations offered by the program. Currently, participants in the ALP are accredited for the analysis of food chemistry (moisture, protein, fat, and salt), specific chemical residues, and classes of chemical residues. FSIS is proposing to change the statistical method it uses to evaluate laboratory proficiency testing (PT) sample results to the z score approach for those accreditations that are currently evaluated by Cumulative Summation (CUSUM). FSIS also is proposing to accredit non-Federal laboratories for microbiological indicator organisms and pathogen testing, in response to industry interest. Additionally, the Agency is proposing to make various minor edits and changes to the regulation for the sake of clarity and to incorporate all sample types under the jurisdiction of FSIS (e.g., to include egg products), as appropriate for the associated analyte, and to improve program flexibility. Improving program flexibility includes updating definitions to remove specific references that are currently limiting the program.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is amending the egg products inspection regulations to require official plants that process egg products (herein also referred to as ``egg products plants'' or ``plants'') to develop and implement Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) Systems and Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (Sanitation SOPs) and to meet other sanitation requirements consistent with FSIS's meat and poultry regulations.