FSIS Constituent Update - August 20, 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 countries:

Australia

Hong Kong

Macedonia

Qatar

Romania

Complete information is

currently available at:

www.fsis.usda.gov/OFO/

export/explib.htm

Volume 5, Issue 31

United States Department of Agriculture

Food Safety and Inspection Service

 August 20, 2004

Protecting Public Health Through Food Safety

FSIS Constituent Update

Poll Shows Americans are

Confident in U.S. Food Supply

A Gallup poll released earlier this week reported that the vast majority of Americans,

more than 85 percent, said they are confident in the federal government’s ability to

protect the nation’s food supply. The polling results also show that Americans feel

more confident about government food safety programs today than they did a few

years ago.

Thirty-one percent of the respondents said they had “a great deal” of confidence in

the food supply, up from 21 percent in July 2001 and 19 percent in July 2002.

“This percentage has more than doubled since 1999, when just 15 percent of

Americans had a great deal of confidence in the government’s ability to keep the

food supply safe,” said Heather Mason, Gallup contributing editor.

The survey also noted that fifty-four percent said they had a “fair amount” of

confidence while only fourteen percent said they had “not much or “no confidence”

in government food safety programs.

The positive poll numbers can be partly attributed to USDA’s prompt and thorough

response to the discovery of a cow with BSE in December 2003. In addition, the

unprecedented steps that FSIS has taken in the past few years to implement sciencebased policies to combat illness-causing pathogens on raw meat and poultry

products have also helped to achieve a safer food supply.

Reports of increased consumer confidence in the government’s ability to protect

the food supply comes at a time when the Centers for Disease Control is reporting

a 36 percent drop in the number of illnesses caused by E. coli O157:H7 as well as

recent reports by FSIS that there has been a 62 percent decline in the number of

ground beef regulatory samples testing positive for E. coli O157:H7.

The poll is based on telephone interviews with 1,005 adults in the United States

and was conducted between July 8 and 11, 2004. The margin of sampling error is

plus or minus three percentage points.
 FSIS Constituent Update - August 20, 2004 2 Congressional & Public Affairs Office

THIS

WEEK’S

HOT WEB

 LINKS

Production and

Inspection

www.fsis.usda.gov/

fact_sheets/

Production_&_Inspection_Fact_Sheets/

USDA Meat &

Poultry Hotline

www.fsis.usda.gov/

Food_Safety_Education/

USDA_Meat_&_Poultry_Hotline/

Keeping Food Safe

During an

Emergency

www.fsis.usda.gov/

News_&_Events/

NR_081204_01/index.asp

Two Opportunities Remain to

Attend E. coli O157:H7

Workshops

The final workshops on new directives designed to strengthen E. coli O157:H7

prevention procedures will be held August 28 and September 11 from 9 a.m. to

2 p.m. The three FSIS directives to be covered during the sessions are: Directive

10,010.1 Revision 1, Microbiological Testing Program and Other Verification

Activities for E. coli O157:H7 in Raw Ground Beef Products and Raw Ground

Beef Components and Beef Patty Components; Directive 6420.0, Verification

of Procedures for Controlling Fecal Material, Ingesta and Milk in Slaughter

Operations; and Directive 5000.2, Review of Establishment Data by Inspection

Program Personnel. They are designed for operators of small and very small

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

personnel, members of academia and other interested parties.

FSIS will web cast the workshop from Philadelphia on August 28. Individuals

who are not able to travel to Philadelphia will have an opportunity to watch the

meeting in progress and ask questions in real time through their computers. To

connect to the web cast, participants will need a computer, speakers and access

to the Internet. Several people can participate from one location.

There are 50 slots available for the web cast. Registration is required for the

web cast and will be accepted through August 18, 2004. Priority will be given to

small and very small federally-inspected plants, state-inspected plants, federal

and state inspection personnel, as well as those hosting the web cast event for a

large audience. Please note, pre-registration is required. To register visit:

www.fsis.usda.gov/News_&_Events/Registration_082804_Webcast

The remaining workshops are scheduled as follows:

August 28: Crown Plaza Philadelphia, 1800 Market Street, Philadelphia, Pa.

19103, (215) 561-7500

September 11: The Ambassador, 3100 I-40 West, Amarillo, Texas 79102,

(806) 358-6161

To pre-register to attend the workshops, please call (866) 553-3052 or visit:

www.fsis.usda.gov/News/Meetings_&_Events
FSIS Constituent Update - August 20, 2004 3 Congressional & Public Affairs Office

Featured

Office of the

Week

National Advisory Committee

Seeking Nominees

USDA is seeking nominees for membership on the National Advisory Committee

on Meat and Poultry Inspection (NACMPI).

Membership is drawn from a broad range of groups interested in food safety,

including producers, processors, exporters and importers of meat and poultry

products, as well as those in academia, federal and state government officials and

consumers.

Names of nominees and their typed curricula vitae, or resume, should be sent to

Dr. Barbara J. Masters, acting administrator, FSIS, USDA, Room 405-Aerospace

Building, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20250-3700.

The application must be postmarked no later than September 5, 2004.

Applications are also available online at: www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/NACMPI/

Nominations.htm.

Labor and

Employee Relations

Division

The Labor and Employee

Relations Division’s (LERD)

mission is to prevent and correct

conduct and performance

problems that can significantly

interfere with the agency’s vital

public health goals. To

accomplish this important task,

LERD provides vital leadership

and helpful advice to managers

handling labor relation issues. The

Voluntary Dispute Intervention

Program is the most recent

example of the division’s efforts

to address conflicts and

disagreements in the workplace

before they affect the agency’s

important public health mission.

For more information visit:

www .fsis.usda.gov/

About_FSIS/OM/

FSIS Proposes Equalizing

Requirements for Supervisory

Visits

FSIS has issued a proposed rule harmonizing the requirements for supervisory

visits at certified foreign establishments with those of domestic plants.

The proposed rule amends FSIS regulations to require foreign inspection agencies

to conduct supervisory visits at intervals sufficient to verify that the establishment

remains eligible for certification to export to the United States. The new language

reestablishes the frequency requirement as “periodic supervisory visits.”

Comments must be received on or before October 18. Written comments may

be submitted to the FSIS Docket Room, Reference Docket #03-033P, U.S.

Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service, Room 102 Cotton

Annex, 300 12th Street, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20250-3700. Any comments

received will be available for public inspection in the FSIS Docket Room from

8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and will be posted at

www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/rdad/FRDockets.htm.

For further information contact Sally White, director, international equivalence

staff, FSIS’ Office of International Affairs, at (202) 720-6400.
 FSIS Constituent Update - August 20, 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.

August 26, 2004

WIC Anniversary,

 Maine

September 3-6, 2004

Hopkinton State Fair

Contoocook, N.H.

September 8, 2004

Elementary School

Sanbornton, N.H.

For more dates visit:

www .fsis.usda.gov/

Food_Safety_Education/

Mobile_Events_by_Date/

The National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods

(NACMCF) will hold public meetings Aug. 24-27. The full committee will

discuss performance standards for ground chicken and ground turkey, the

scientific basis for establishing safety-based “use by” date labels for refrigerated

ready-to-eat foods and scientific criteria for redefining pasteurization. All meetings

are open to the public and will be held at the Hotel Monaco, 700 F Street,

N.W., Washington, D.C.

The full committee will meet Friday, Aug. 27 from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Three

NACMCF subcommittees will meet prior to the full committee meeting. The

Performance Standards for Ground Chicken/Ground Turkey subcommittee will

meet Aug. 24, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Aug. 25, from 8:30 a.m. to noon.

The Scientific Criteria for Redefining Pasteurization subcommittee will meet Aug.

25, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The Scientific Basis for Establishing Safety-Based

“Use By” Date Labeling for Refrigerated Ready-to-Eat Foods subcommittee

will meet Aug. 26, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

For further information contact Karen Thomas, FSIS Office of Public Health

Science, Microbiology Division at (202) 690-6620.

Upcoming National Advisory

Committee on Microbiological

Criteria for Foods (NACMCF)

Meetings

To Contact the Constituent Update Editor

Crystal Straughn crystal.straughn@fsis.usda.gov (202) 720-9113

Salmonella Data Clarification

In explanatory notes accompanying 2003 Salmonella testing data, a reference

was made to a steady decrease in positive samples for each year of HACCP

verification testing even when four years of data were weighted against the

proportion of samples in each of seven categories in 2000. The calculations

were made using the proportions from the 2001 data, rather than 2000. FSIS

regrets any confusion this error might have caused.