Congressional and Public Affairs
(202) 720-9113
Bridgette Keefe

WASHINGTON, March 15, 2005 - The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) today announced a public meeting to discuss and receive comments on two draft risk assessments.

One risk assessment is a quantitative risk assessment of Salmonella in ready-to-eat (RTE) meat and poultry products. The second is a quantitative risk assessment of Clostridium perfringens in both RTE and heat-treated, but not RTE, products. FSIS prepared both assessments to provide scientific information in support of proposed rulemaking.

The public meeting will be held March 24 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Holiday Inn, 415 New Jersey Avenue NW, Washington, DC. The draft risk assessments and a tentative agenda for the meeting will be available prior to the meeting at www.fsis.usda.gov/News/Meetings_&_Events/.

The information on the notice of proposed rulemaking [66 FR 12589] is available on the FSIS Web site at www.fsis.usda.gov/regulations/2001_Proposed_Rules_Index/

For information concerning the public meeting or to request a sign language interpreter, contact Diane Jones at (202) 720-9692 or by email at Diane.Jones@fsis.usda.gov.