This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains documents other than rules or

proposed rules that are applicable to the

public. Notices of hearings and investigations,

committee meetings, agency decisions and

rulings, delegations of authority, filing of

petitions and applications and agency

statements of organization and functions are

examples of documents appearing in this

section.

Notices Federal Register

38273 

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-tocook 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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