16326 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 64 / Wednesday, April 4, 2007 / Notices 

Dated: March 29, 2007. 

Lloyd C. Day, 

Administrator, Agricultural Marketing 

Service. 

[FR Doc. E7–6246 Filed 4–3–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–02–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Agricultural Marketing Service 

[Docket No. DA–07–04] 

Notice of Request for Extension and 

Revision of a Currently Approved 

Information Collection 

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, 

USDA. 

ACTION: Notice and request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 

U.S.C. Chapter 35), this notice 

announces the Agricultural Marketing 

Service’s (AMS) intention to request an 

extension for and revision to a currently 

approved information collection for 

report forms under the Federal milk 

marketing order program. 

DATES: Comments on this notice must be 

received by June 4, 2007 to be assured 

of consideration. 

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are 

invited to submit written comments on 

the Internet at http:// 

www.regulations.gov or to the Office of 

the Deputy Administrator, Dairy 

Programs, AMS, USDA, 1400 

Independence Avenue, SW., Room 2968 

South, Stop 0225, Washington, DC 

20250–0225. Comments should make 

reference to the date and page number 

of this issue of the Federal Register. All 

comments will be made available for 

public inspection in the above office 

during regular business hours. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Contact William F. Newell, Chief, Order 

Operations Branch, Dairy Programs, 

(202) 690–2375, FAX: (202) 720–2454. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Title: Report Forms Under Federal 

Milk Orders (From Milk Handlers and 

Milk Marketing Cooperatives). 

OMB Number: 0581–0032. 

Expiration Date of Approval: 

September 30, 2007. 

Type of Request: Extension and 

revision of a currently approved 

information collection. 

Abstract: Federal milk marketing 

order regulations authorized under the 

Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act 

of 1937, as amended (7 U.S.C. 601–674), 

require milk handlers to report in detail 

the receipts and utilization of milk and 

milk products handled at each of their 

plants that are regulated by a Federal 

order. The data are needed to administer 

the classified pricing system and related 

requirements of each Federal order. 

A Federal milk marketing order 

(hereinafter, Order) is a regulation 

issued by the Secretary of Agriculture 

that places certain requirements on the 

handling of milk in the area it covers. 

Each Order is established under the 

authority of the Act. The Order requires 

that handlers of milk for a marketing 

area pay not less than certain minimum 

class prices according to how the milk 

is used. These prices are established 

under each Order after a public hearing 

at which evidence is received on the 

supply and demand conditions for milk 

in the market. An Order requires that 

payments for milk be pooled and paid 

to individual farmers or cooperative 

associations of farmers on the basis of a 

uniform or average price. Thus, all 

eligible farmers (producers) share in the 

market wide use-values of milk by 

regulated handlers. 

Milk Orders help ensure adequate 

supplies of milk and dairy products for 

consumers and adequate returns to 

producers. 

The Orders also provide for the public 

dissemination of market statistics and 

other information for the benefit of 

producers, handlers, and consumers. 

Formal rulemaking amendments to 

the Orders must be approved in 

referenda conducted by the Secretary. 

During 2006, 52,725 dairy farmers 

delivered over 120 billion pounds of 

milk to handlers regulated under the 

milk orders. This volume represents 67 

percent of all milk marketed in the U.S. 

and 68 percent of the milk of bottling 

quality (Grade A) sold in the country. 

The value of this milk delivered to 

Federal milk order handlers at 

minimum order blend prices was nearly 

$16.0 billion. Producer deliveries of 

milk used in Class I products (mainly 

fluid milk products) totaled 45 billion 

pounds—38 percent of total producer 

deliveries. More than 239 million 

Americans reside in Federal milk order 

marketing areas—80 percent of the total 

U.S. population. 

Each Order is administered by a 

market administrator who is an agent of 

the Secretary of Agriculture. The market 

administrator is authorized to levy 

assessments on regulated handlers to 

carry out the market administrator’s 

duties and responsibilities under the 

Orders. Additional duties of the market 

administrators are to prescribe reports 

required of each handler, to assure that 

handlers properly account for milk and 

milk products, and to assure that such 

handlers pay producers and associations 

of producers according to the provisions 

of the Order. The market administrator 

employs a staff that verifies handlers’

reports by examining records to 

determine that the required payments 

are made to producers. Most reports 

required from handlers are submitted 

monthly to the market administrator. 

The forms used by the market 

administrators are required by the 

respective Orders that are authorized by 

the Act. The forms are used to establish: 

The quantity of milk received by 

handlers, the pooling status of the 

handler, the class-use of the milk used 

by the handler, and the butterfat content 

and amounts of other components of the 

milk. 

The forms covered under this 

information collection require the 

minimum information necessary to 

effectively carry out the requirements of 

the Orders, and their use is necessary to 

fulfill the intent of the Act as expressed 

in the Orders and in the rules and 

regulations issued under the Orders. 

The information collected is used 

only by authorized employees of the 

market administrator and authorized 

representatives of the USDA, including 

AMS Dairy Programs’ headquarters staff. 

Estimate of Burden: Public reporting 

burden for this collection of information 

is estimated to average 1.07 hours per 

response. 

Respondents: Milk handlers and milk 

marketing cooperatives. 

Estimated Number of Respondents: 

740. 

Estimated Number of Responses: 

20,565. 

Estimated Number of Responses per 

Respondent: 28. 

Estimated Total Annual Burden on 

Respondents: 21,818 hours. 

Comments are invited on: (1) Whether 

the proposed collection of information 

is necessary for the proper performance 

of the functions of the agency, including 

whether the information will have 

practical utility; (2) the accuracy of the 

agency’s estimate of the burden of the 

proposed collection of information 

including the validity of the 

methodology and assumptions used; (3) 

ways to enhance the quality, utility, and 

clarity of the information to be 

collected; and (4) ways to minimize the 

burden of the collection of information 

on those who are to respond, including 

the use of appropriate automated, 

electronic, mechanical, or other 

technological collection techniques or 

other forms of information technology. 

All responses to this notice will be 

summarized and included in the request 

for OMB approval. All comments will 

become a matter of public record. 


jlentini on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 64 / Wednesday, April 4, 2007 / Notices 16327 

Dated: March 29, 2007. 

Lloyd C. Day, 

Administrator, Agricultural Marketing 

Service. 

[FR Doc. E7–6248 Filed 4–3–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–02–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Food Safety and Inspection Service 

[Docket No. FSIS–2007–0012] 

Risk-Based Inspection System 

AGENCY: Food Safety and Inspection 

Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of public meetings on 

risk-based inspection 

SUMMARY: The Food Safety and 

Inspection (FSIS) will hold a series of 

public meetings on specific topics 

relating to risk-based inspection in 

processing. The first meeting will focus 

on the algorithm that the Agency 

intends to use to compute risk-based 

inspection levels for processing 

establishments. A second meeting will 

address the issue of attributing illness to 

food. Production volume will be 

discussed at the third meeting, and 

industry data will be the focus of the 

fourth meeting. The expert elicitation 

process will be discussed at the fifth 

meeting. 

DATES: FSIS will hold the meetings on 

the following dates: 

Monday, April 2, 2007 from 9 a.m. to 

1 p.m. The first meeting will focus on 

the algorithm the Agency intends to use 

to compute risk-based inspection levels 

for processing establishments. 

Thursday, April 5, 2007 from 8:30 

a.m. to 4 p.m. This meeting will discuss 

the issue of attributing illness to food. 

Wednesday, April 25, 2007 from 9 

a.m. to 1 p.m. Production volume will 

be discussed at the third meeting. 

Monday, April 30, 2007 from 9 a.m. 

to 1 p.m. The topic of industry data is 

the focus of the fourth meeting. A 

technical meeting on the expert 

elicitation process is also planned as the 

fifth meeting. The date of this meeting 

will be announced at a later time. Any 

changes in meeting dates or times will 

be posted on the FSIS Web site at 

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

ADDRESSES: The meetings will be held 

in Room 244 at George Mason 

University, 3401 N. Fairfax Drive, 

Arlington, VA 22201. Directions to the 

site, the agenda, and other meeting 

materials will be posted on the FSIS 

Web site at http://www.fsis.usda.gov. 

All meetings will be accessible 

through conference call. Specific 

information concerning connections and 

the telephone number will also be 

posted on the FSIS Web site. Members 

of the public should pre-register for the 

meetings (see Background). Online 

registration information is also located 

on the Web site. 

FSIS welcomes comments on the 

topics to be discussed at the public 

meetings. An issue paper concerning the 

respective topics will be posted on the 

FSIS Web site, http://www.fsis.usda.gov, 

a week prior to each meeting, with the 

exception of the meeting on attribution. 

Comments may be submitted on the 

meeting topics by any of the following 

methods for 30 days from the date of 

completion of each public meeting: 

• Electronic mail: An e-mail box has 

been established specifically for 

comments for RBI. Comments can be 

submitted to: 

riskbasedinspection@fsis.usda.gov. 

• Mail, including floppy disks or CD– 

ROMs: Send to: Ellyn Blumberg, USDA, 

FSIS, Aerospace Building, 3rd floor, 

room 405, 14th and Independence 

Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20250. 

• Hand or courier-delivered items: 

Deliver to: Ellyn Blumberg at 901 D 

Street, SW., Washington, DC 20024. 

Have security guard call (202) 690–6520 

in order to hand deliver items. 

• Facsimile: Fax comments to: (202) 

690–6519. 

All submissions received must 

include the Agency name and docket 

number FSIS–2007–0012 and meeting 

topic. The comments also will be posted 

on the Agency’s Web site at http:// 

www.fsis.usda.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Sally Fernandez for meeting information 

at (202) 690–6524, Fax (202) 690–6519, 

or e-mail sally.fernandez@fsis.usda.gov. 

Keith Payne for technical information at 

(202) 690–6522 or e-mail at 

keith.payne@fsis.usda.gov. Persons 

requiring a sign language interpreter or 

other special accommodations should 

notify the Agency contacts no later than 

two weeks before the meeting, at the 

numbers above or by e-mail. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

FSIS is the public health regulatory 

agency in the U.S. Department of 

Agriculture (USDA) responsible for 

ensuring that the nation’s commercial 

supply of meat, poultry, and egg 

products is safe, wholesome, and 

correctly labeled and packaged. 

To better address the food safety and 

public health challenges it faces, FSIS is 

working to make its inspection system 

more risk-based and to continue to 

implement science-based policies. 

Although the Agency acknowledges that 

some types of meat and poultry 

products pose greater health risks than 

others, and some establishments control 

risks better than others, under the 

current system of processing inspection, 

a Consumer Safety Inspector visits every 

plant at least once every shift to perform 

a variety of verification procedures 

scheduled by the Performance Based 

Inspection System (PBIS.) PBIS 

schedules inspection procedures the 

same way in all processing plants, 

regardless of the particular food safety 

hazard associated with the products 

produced or processes performed at one 

plant versus another. 

In July 2004, the Agency outlined the 

basic features of a predictive model that 

would permit FSIS to improve resource 

allocation by considering the inherent 

risks and risk control effectiveness of 

the meat and poultry establishments 

under Federal inspection. Since that 

time, FSIS has continued to develop and 

refine these ideas. In November 2005, 

FSIS addressed the National Advisory 

Committee on Meat and Poultry 

Inspection (NAMCPI) on Agency 

progress toward a Risk-Based Inspection 

System (RBIS). In May 2006, the Agency 

again addressed NAMCPI—this time on 

ideas the Agency has on measuring risk 

control effectiveness for RBI. 

Reductions in the number of illnesses 

attributed to the consumption of 

adulterated meat and poultry products 

can be achieved by placing greater 

inspection and verification emphasis on 

establishments whose processes, owing 

to the nature and volume of their 

production, require greater control of 

the risks. FSIS believes that it can 

improve public health by focusing its 

efforts on processing establishments that 

produce products presenting high 

inherent risk and that are less effective 

in controlling risks. At the same time, 

FSIS can focus less on processing 

establishments that produce products 

that present low inherent risk and that 

exercise effective risk control. In both 

cases, establishments will continue to 

be inspected on a per shift basis, 

although the intensity of inspection will 

vary, depending on risk factors. 

In October 2006, FSIS held a public 

meeting to present ideas about how the 

Agency can develop these measures for 

federally-inspected meat and poultry 

processing establishments and to accept 

stakeholder input. 

This series of technical meetings that 

the Agency is announcing will address 

various dimensions of RBI and 

protecting public health, and FSIS is 

seeking input from all stakeholders on 

these matters. Prior to each meeting, 

FSIS will post on its Web site an issue 


jlentini on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES