I

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4562

To require the Secretary of Agriculture to enter into appropriate arrangements with the National Academy of Sciences to coordinate the development of recommendations for public policy changes required to implement

an improved inspection program for meat and poultry products.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 9, 1994

Mr. STENHOLM introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Agriculture

A BILL

To require the Secretary of Agriculture to enter into appropriate arrangements with the National Academy of

Sciences to coordinate the development of recommendations for public policy changes required to implement

an improved inspection program for meat and poultry

products.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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1 SECTION 1. DEVELOPMENT OF FRAMEWORK FOR IM2 PROVED MEAT AND POULTRY INSPECTION

3 BY DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.

4 (a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to pro5 tect the public health by providing for the development

6 of a detailed framework for an improved meat and poultry

7 inspection program that is both scientifically reliable and

8 concentrates on hazards posing the greatest risk to human

9 health.

10 (b) COORDINATION BY NATIONAL ACADEMY OF

11 SCIENCES.—Not later than 60 days after the date of the

12 enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture shall

13 enter into an agreement with the President of the National

14 Academy of Sciences, under which the Academy will co15 ordinate the development and evaluation of strategies and

16 mechanisms for implementing an improved meat and poul17 try inspection program under the jurisdiction of the De18 partment of Agriculture that is both scientifically reliable

19 and concentrates on hazards posing the greatest risk to

20 human health.

21 (c) REPORT ON ACTIVITIES.—Not later than six

22 months after the date on which the agreement is entered

23 into under subsection (b), the Academy shall submit to

24 the Secretary of Agriculture and Congress a report de25 scribing the results of the activities conducted pursuant

26 to the agreement. The report shall include the following:
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1 (1) An evaluation of the adequacy of the cur2 rent scientific basis for implementing risk-based

3 meat and poultry inspection programs using the ap4 proach known as hazard analysis critical control

5 point. The evaluation shall include an examination of

6 the adequacy of—

7 (A) data necessary to evaluate and com8 pare the public health impacts of current and

9 future meat and poultry inspection programs;

10 and

11 (B) current and anticipated biological and

12 food science technologies needed to conduct

13 risk-based meat and poultry inspection pro14 grams.

15 (2) If deficiencies are found in the current sci16 entific basis for implementing risk-based meat and

17 poultry inspection programs, recommendations re18 garding strategies needed to achieve the level of sci19 entific data and technology required to adequately

20 protect the public health in conducting meat and

21 poultry inspection programs.

22 (3) Recommendations regarding the manage23 ment structure in the Department of Agriculture

24 and resources necessary for—
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1 (A) training the current meat and poultry

2 inspection work force to move from a visual in3 spection system to a risk-based inspection sys4 tem; and

5 (B) implementing an effective risk-based

6 meat and poultry inspection program on a uni7 form basis throughout the United States.

8 (4) A description of the legislative and regu9 latory changes needed to implement the rec10 ommendations required under paragraph (3).

11 (d) FUNDING.—From funds available to the Sec12 retary of Agriculture for fiscal year 1995, the Secretary

13 may use not more than $200,000 to carry out this section.

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