This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER
contains documents other than rules orproposed rules that are applicable to thepublic. Notices of hearings and investigations,committee meetings, agency decisions andrulings, delegations of authority, filing ofpetitions and applications and agencystatements of organization and functions areexamples of documents appearing in thissection.NoticesFederal Register38273 
Vol. 83, No. 151 
Monday, August 6, 2018 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
Agricultural Marketing Service 
[Docket No. AMS–LP–18–0050] 
United States Classes, Standards, and 
Grades for Poultry 
AGENCY : Agricultural Marketing Service, 
USDA. 
ACTION : Notice. 
SUMMARY : The U.S. Department of 
Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is revising the United States Classes, Standards, and Grades for Poultry, (the poultry standards) to lower the age requirement for the ‘‘roaster and roasting chickens’’ class of poultry and identify a ready-to- cook weight of 5.5 pounds or more. This change is consistent with how the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) defines ‘‘roaster or roasting chickens’’ for labeling compliance. 
DATES : The revised poultry standards 
are effective August 6, 2018. 
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT : 
Richard Lawson, National Poultry Supervisor, Livestock and Poultry Program, AMS, USDA; 1400 Independence Ave. SW; Room 3932–S, STOP 0258; Washington, DC 20250– 0258; phone (202) 690–3166; Richard.Lawson@ams.usda.gov. 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION : Section 
203(c) of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946, as amended (7 U.S.C. 1621 et seq.), directs and authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture ‘‘to develop and improve standards of quality, condition, quantity, grade, and packaging and recommend and demonstrate such standards in order to encourage uniformity and consistency in commercial practices.’’ AMS is committed to carrying out this authority in a manner that facilitates the marketing of agricultural commodities. While the poultry standards do not appear in the Code of Federal Regulations, they—along with other official standards—are maintained by USDA and can be found at https://www.ams.usda.gov/grades-standards. Copies of official standards are also available upon request. To revise the poultry standards, AMS utilizes the procedures it published in the August 13, 1997, Federal Register (62 FR 43439) and in 7 CFR part 36. Because this change to the poultry standards is to ensure consistency with FSIS’s definition, public comments are not being sought. 
Background 
FSIS maintains regulatory authority 
over the labeling of poultry products 
under the Poultry Products Inspection Act (PPIA) which prohibits the distribution of poultry products that are adulterated or misbranded (12 U.S.C. 458). In November 2013, the National Chicken Council petitioned FSIS to amend the ‘‘roaster chicken class to remove the 8-week minimum age criteria and increase the Ready-to-Cook (RTC) carcass weight to 5.5 pounds.’’ According to the petition, the existing ‘‘roaster’’ standard—defined at 9 CFR 381.170(a)(1)(iii) as a ‘‘young chicken (between 8 and 12 weeks of age), of either sex, with a ready-to-cook carcass weight of 5 pounds or more, that is tender-meated with soft, pliable, smooth-textured skin and breastbone cartilage that is somewhat less flexible than that of a broiler or fryer’’— detracted from the orderly and efficient marketing of classes. Specifically, companies were unable to label and market chickens as ‘‘roasters’’ that met all the physical attributes apart from the minimum age requirement. FSIS and AMS completed a review of the petition in July 2014 and concluded that continuous improvements in breeding and poultry management techniques had enabled producers to raise chickens with the characteristics of roasters in under 8 weeks. 
On April 13, 2016, FSIS published a 
final rule in the Federal Register (81 FR 21706) amending the definition and standard of identity for the ‘‘roaster or roasting chicken’’ poultry class, with an effective date of January 1, 2018. AMS is revising its poultry standards definition of roaster from usually 3 to 5 months of age to 5.5 pounds or more and less than 12 weeks of age to maintain consistency with the FSIS regulation. 
Dated: July 23, 2018. 
Bruce Summers, 
Administrator, Agricultural Marketing 
Service. 
[FR Doc. 2018–16249 Filed 8–3–18; 8:45 am] 
BILLING CODE 3410–02–P 
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
Rural Utilities Service Announcement of Loan Application 
Procedures, and Deadlines for the Rural Energy Savings Program (RESP) 
AGENCY : Rural Utilities Service, USDA. 
ACTION : Notice of Funding Availability 
(NOFA); the RESP application process and deadlines. 
SUMMARY : The Rural Utilities Service 
(RUS), an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), is announcing funding availability and is soliciting letters of intent for loan applications under the Rural Energy Savings Program (RESP), announcing the application process for those loans and deadlines for applications from eligible entities. These loans are made available under the authority of Section 6407 of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002, as amended, (Section 6407) and Title VII, Section 741 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018. This notice describes the eligibility requirements, the application process and deadlines, the criteria that will be used by RUS to assess Applicants’ creditworthiness, and how to obtain application materials. The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018 appropriated a budget authority of $8,000,000 and authorized that the Secretary may use this funding to allow eligible entities to offer energy efficiency loans to customers in any part of their service territory and may also use this funding for projects replacing manufactured housing units with another manufactured housing unit if the replacement would be more cost effective in saving energy. The Administrator may approve loans proposing to include these new eligible activities for entities currently in the queue provided they still meet the all application requirements, pursuant to this NOFA. 
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