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Food Safety and Inspection
Service United States Department of Agriculture Washington, D.C. 20250-3700 |
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Food Safety and Inspection
Service United States Department of Agriculture Washington, D.C. 20250-3700 |
Key Facts: HACCP Final Rule
July 1996
FSIS plans to hold special conferences, meetings, and other opportunities for continued dialogue with interested parties on issues related to the Pathogen Reduction and HACCP final rule. These activities will include the following:
FSIS will convene a national HACCP Implementation Conference to be held in Washington, D.C. two months after publication of the Pathogen Reduction/HACCP final rule. This national meeting will be followed by a series of six regional implementation conferences to be held throughout the country. Topics to be discussed at the national conference will include developing generic model HACCP plans; draft guidance materials published in Appendices of final rule; revised HACCP implementation schedule and other HACCP implementation issues; achieving consistent training for FSIS and industry employees; alternative dispute resolution procedures; and other issues. A notice on the Washington, D.C. and regional HACCP implementation conferences will be published in the Federal Register.
Based on comments FSIS received, the Agency is extending and expanding its rulemaking process on the issue of cooling of raw meat and poultry products to consider alternative approaches to performance standards for cooling within establishments, and the adoption of standards for cooling of raw products during transportation, storage, and retail sale. FSIS will hold a joint conference with FDA on the establishment of appropriate food safety performance standards for temperature controls outside processing establishments in the transportation, storage, and retail marketing of meat, poultry, eggs, dairy products, and other perishable foods. This conference will coincide with the publication of a joint FSIS/FDA advance notice of proposed rulemaking on the issue. FSIS will also hold a separate meeting to discuss issues related to performance standards for temperature controls for meat and poultry products.
FSIS will conduct HACCP demonstration projects for small and very small plants during the 2-year period following publication of the final rule on HACCP/Pathogen Reduction. The purpose of the demonstration projects, which will be conducted at various sites throughout the country, is to show how HACCP systems can work for various products under actual operating conditions. (FSIS is also developing generic models for the major process categories that will be made available to assist small establishments in preparing their HACCP plans.) The demonstration projects will be completed prior to when any small plants are required to implement HACCP. Information gathered from the demonstration projects will be reflected in any required modifications to the generic HACCP models or other FSIS guidance materials and refinements to Agency regulations.
FSIS is seeking further comment on certain technical issues, such as testing frequency and sampling procedures, and will be holding a conference on these issues about 45 days after publication of the final rule. FSIS will make any appropriate technical amendments to the E. coli testing protocols at least 30 days before the effective date of the rule. FSIS will not use E. coli testing results as an indication of process control until 6 months after the effective date for the testing requirement. A second conference is tentatively planned for about 9 months following publication of this rule to provide an opportunity for industry and other parties to discuss with FSIS new information based on the 3 months of testing that will have occurred that might warrant refinements to the protocol.
Approximately 15 months after the publication of this final rule, FSIS will convene a public conference to review available Salmonella data and discuss whether they warrant refining the Salmonella performance standards. Prior to the conference, FSIS will make available the data resulting from the pre-implementation phase of the FSIS Salmonella testing program. FSIS will extend an invitation to all interested parties.
FSIS believes it is time to test new approaches to inspection that would, within the Agency's current statutory mandate and still meeting all the consumer protection objectives of the current system, ensure that FSIS is making the best possible use of its resources to improve food safety. FSIS will publish a Federal Register notice soon that will announce plans to develop and conduct a pilot test of alternative models for deploying our inspection resources in the context of a HACCP-based farm-to-table food safety strategy. This public process will begin with a public meeting to discuss issues outlined in the Federal Register notice. This meeting will take place approximately 30-60 days after the notice on HACCP-based alternative inspection models is published. Interested parties will be encouraged to participate in the public meeting, the pilot studies, and evaluation of the data resulting from them.
A meeting will be held this summer with State agriculture and inspection officials to discuss implementation and other issues related to implementation of the Pathogen Reduction/HACCP final rule within State inspection programs. This meeting will be held in conjunction with the Agency's annual meeting with State meat and poultry inspection directors.
FSIS will convene a special meeting with representatives of governments that import meat and poultry products into the United States. The purpose of the meeting will be to discuss implementation and other issues related to the final rule on Pathogen Reduction/HACCP.
Detailed information on all of these meetings and conferences will be published in the Federal Register. For more information on any of these activities, contact:
Charles Danner: (202) 501-7138
Andrew Moss: (202) 690-3774
For Further Information Contact:
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