February 04, 2000

The National Conference on Interstate Milk Shipments (NCIMS) is a voluntary organization directed and controlled by the member States and open to all persons interested in its objective of promoting the availability of a safe milk supply. It is governed by an Executive Board whose members include representatives from state departments of health and agriculture, the FDA, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and industry.

At the October 1997 National Conference on Interstate Milk Shipments (NCIMS), the delegates voted for passage of two proposals which requested the formation of a NCIMS HACCP Committee which would address how a voluntary HACCP system should be implemented, evaluated, monitored, and enforced under the NCIMS as an alternative to the traditional Inspection/Rating/Check Rating System.

HACCP is a science-based system used to ensure that food safety hazards are controlled to prevent unsafe food from reaching the consumer. In the United States, meat and poultry are regulated under HACCP by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) program. The seafood industry is regulated under HACCP by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and new regulations have been proposed for juices. In addition, FDA also has an Advance Notice of Proposed Rule Making (ANPRM) published for HACCP for the rest of the food industry. The proposed Voluntary HACCP program follows the above precedents as closely as possible and is harmonized with the current recommendations of the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF).

The NCIMS HACCP Committee has developed the provisions for a voluntary NCIMS HACCP Pilot Program. This proposal recommends a voluntary pilot study to test the implementation, evaluation, monitoring and enforcement of the proposed HACCP program under the NCIMS as an alternative to the traditional Inspection/Rating/Check Rating System.

Information is now available regarding the NCIMS Voluntary HACCP Pilot Program on FDA's HACCP website (http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/haccp.html). The site contains an overview of the pilot program, NCIMS HACCP Pilot Program Requirements, HACCP and Audit Forms, and Frequently Asked Questions regarding the pilot.

Food Safety Initiative Staff E-mail: cah@vm.cfsan.fda.gov

Office Number: (202) 260-8920 · FAX (202) 260-9653 CFSAN Web site: http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/