FSIS Constituent Update - May 14, 2004 1 Congressional & Public Affairs Office

Export

Requirement

Updates

The Library of Export

Requirements has been

updated to reflect changes

in export requirements for

the following:

Canada

Grenada

Guatemala

Hong Kong

Japan

Mexico

Nicaragua

Complete information can

be found at:

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/

OFO/export/explib.htm

Volume 5, Issue 20

United States Department of Agriculture

Food Safety and Inspection Service

May 14, 2004

Protecting the Public Health by Significantly Reducing Foodborne Hazards from Meat, Poultry and Egg Products

FSIS Constituent Update

Veneman Names New Member to

National Advisory Committee on

Meat and Poultry Inspection

On May 11, Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman announced the

appointment of Darin Detwiler to the National Advisory Committee on Meat

and Poultry Inspection (NACMPI).

“I am very pleased that Mr. Detwiler has agreed to serve on this committee,”

Veneman said. “He brings an important perspective to our meat and poultry

advisory committee.”

The Secretary of Agriculture appoints members to the advisory committee.

Members serve two-year terms and no member may serve on NACMPI for

more than three consecutive terms. Due to the resignation of a member

appointed in March 2003, USDA sought a consumer representative to maintain

a balance of representation among industry, state, academia, and consumer

interests. Mr. Detwiler will serve out the remainder of the existing term,

which ends in March 2005.

Mr. Detwiler, a decorated Gulf War veteran, heads the math and science

department at Best High School in Kirkland, Washington. Mr. Detwiler and

his wife, Vicki, endured a life-changing experience in 1993 when their 17-

month-old son Riley died from E. coli O157:H7 after being exposed to the

pathogen through an infected daycare classmate.

Mr. Detwiler incorporates food safety relevance into history and science

lessons. He collaborated with the National Science Teacher’s Association to

develop a food safety education curriculum that met national science standards

for schools.

The NACMPI was established in 1971 to provide advice and recommendations

regarding meat and poultry inspection programs to the Secretary of Agriculture.
FSIS Constituent Update -May 14, 2004 2 Congressional & Public Affairs Office

THIS

WEEK’S

HOT WEB

 LINKS

FSIS Structure and

Organization

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/

About_FSIS/

Structure_&_Organization/

Production and

Inspection

Information

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/

news_&_events/

Image_&_Video_libraries/

Food Safety

Education for Kids

and Teens

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/

Food_Safety_Education/

For_Kids_&_Teens/

From May through September 2004, FSIS will hold 11 instructive

workshops to discuss information in three recently revised and released

directives dealing with E. coli O157:H7. Directive 10,010.1, Revision

1 Microbiological Testing Program and Other Verification Activities for

Escherichia coli O157:H7 in Raw Ground Beef Products and Raw Ground

Beef Components and Beef Patty Components; Directive 6420.2 

Verification of Procedures for Controlling Fecal Material, Ingesta, and Milk

in Slaughter Operations; and Directive 5000 Review of Establishment

Data by Inspection Program Personnel will be among the topics discussed.

The workshops are scheduled on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. They will

present the materials in the directives to operators of small and very small

federally inspected plants, state inspected plants, federal and state inspection

personnel, members of academia and other interested parties. The first

meeting will be held next weekend in Toledo, Ohio.

Date Meeting location

Saturday, May 22 E. coli workshop Hilton Toledo

Registration 8:30 AM 3100 Glendale Avenue

Workshop 9:00 AM - 2:00 PM Toledo, Ohio

 (419) 389 – 6800

To pre-register for the workshop in Toledo, call (202) 690 – 6520 or email

renee.ellis@fsis.usda.gov

Future workshops will be held in the following cities. Workshop preregistration information and specific meeting sites will be announced in

upcoming issues of the Constituent Update.

The locations and dates of the E. coli O157:H7 workshops are:

Los Angeles, California June 5

Miami, Florida June 12

San Antonio, Texas June 19

Boulder, Colorado June 26

New York, New York July 10

Sacramento, California July 17

St. Louis, Missouri July 24

Montgomery, Alabama July 31

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania August 28

Amarillo, Texas September 11

FSIS Workshops on E. coli

O157:H7 Regulations to Begin
FSIS Constituent Update - May 14, 2004 3 Congressional & Public Affairs Office

The deadline for all applicable businesses to register with the Agency is

May 24, 2004.

All business, unless a business operates under federal inspection, are

required by law to register with the USDA if it deals in meat or poultry

products in, or for, commerce. Since 1970, FSIS has required businesses

affected by the Poultry Products Inspection Act and the Federal Meat

Inspection Act to maintain business records and to make such records

available to FSIS employees upon request. Registration information and

business records are critical in any FSIS investigation related to public

health, food safety or misbranding of meat or poultry products. This

information is particularly vital in tracing the source of pathogens and in

preventing the spread of foodborne illnesses.

The new registration form asks registrants to provide certain information

that was not previously requested, including an e-mail address, phone

number and subsidiaries’ hours of operation. All businesses, including those

that are currently registered, must complete the new form and submit it to

FSIS. The new registration FSIS Form 5020-1 Registration of Meat

and Poultry Handlers is available at: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/forms/

Deadline for FSIS Business

Registration Approaching

Featured

Office of the

Week

The Compliance and

Investigation Division

(CID) manages and directs

investigations, case

development, and

documentation of

violations of inspection

laws and regulations. CID

consists of a Washington

staff and six regional

offices. For more

information go to: http://

www.fsis.usda.g ov/

About_FSIS/OPEER/

Compliance

 &

Investigation

Division

The U.S. Delegate to the Codex Committee on Food Import and Export

Inspection and Certification Systems is requesting comments on CL 2004/

6-FICS: Request for Comments on a Preliminary Set of Principles on

Traceability/Product Tracing. To view the document, go to:

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/PDF/Codex_cl_04_06e.pdf. Send comments

by June 11, 2004, to Catherine.Carnevale@cfsan.fda.gov

Comments on Requested on

Codex Committee Document

To Contact the Constituent Update Editor

Crystal Straughn crystal.straughn@fsis.usda.gov 202-720-9113
FSIS Constituent Update -May 14, 2004 4 Congressional & Public Affairs Office

The USDA Food

Safety Mobile:

Taking Food

Safety

Education on

the Road

The USDA Food Safety Mobile

is a 35-foot, recreational-style

vehicle covered with a bold,

eye-catching design and

prominent food safety

messages, including the four

Fight BAC!® messages of the

Partnership for Food Safety

Education. The next stops for

the Food Safety Mobile are:

May 15

West Virginia University

Graduation Weekend,

Morgantown, W. Va.

May 17

Elementary School,

Harpers Ferry, W. Va.

May 18

Elementary School,

Roanoke, W. Va.

May 19

Elementary School,

Jane Lew, W. Va.

Reminder: Upcoming Codex

Committee Meeting

On May 20, the Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Certification

and Inspection (CCFICS) & ad hoc Biotech will hold a public meeting from

2 - 4 p.m. in Room 107A Whitten Building 1400 Independence Ave. S.W.

Washington, D.C., to receive input into two Codex Circular letters.

Comments received at the public meeting will be used to assist in the

preparation of the U.S. Government’s response to them. For more

information see:http://www.fsis.usda.gov/regulations_&_policies/

codex_news_&_comments_requested/

In a notice issued last week, FSIS announced that it is harmonizing the policy

underlying its testing and disposition procedures with that of the Food and

Drug Administration (FDA) to prevent meat with unsafe animal drug residues

from entering the nation’s food supply. This modification will allow FSIS and

FDA to work together on testing marker residues from new animal drugs in

target tissue of food producing animals. The target tissue is the edible tissue

(liver, kidney, muscle, or fat) of an animal that breaks down the drug residue

most slowly. 

FSIS does not establish animal drug tolerances but is responsible for a food

animal once it is presented for slaughter at an official federal establishment. 

FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) is primarily responsible for

establishing and codifying tolerances for new animal drugs. This notice is a

follow-up to an August 6, 2001 Federal Register notice that announced FSIS’s

intent to harmonize its procedures with FDA’s regarding target tissue and

marker residue policy. For more information see: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/

regulations/regulations_directives_&_notices/

Residue Policy Response to

Comments