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

9888 

Vol. 77, No. 34 

Tuesday, February 21, 2012 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Agricultural Research Service 

Notice of Intent To Grant Exclusive 

License 

AGENCY: Agricultural Research Service, 

USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of intent. 

SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that 

the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 

Agricultural Research Service, intends 

to grant to North Carolina State 

University of Raleigh, North Carolina, 

an exclusive license to the soybean 

variety named ‘‘N7003CN’’. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before March 22, 2012. 

ADDRESSES: Send comments to: USDA, 

ARS, Office of Technology Transfer, 

5601 Sunnyside Avenue, Rm. 4–1174, 

Beltsville, Maryland 20705–5131. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: June 

Blalock of the Office of Technology 

Transfer at the Beltsville address given 

above; telephone: 301–504–5989. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Federal Government’s rights in this 

plant variety are assigned to the United 

States of America, as represented by the 

Secretary of Agriculture. The 

prospective exclusive license will be 

royalty-bearing and will comply with 

the terms and conditions of 35 U.S.C. 

209 and 37 CFR 404.7. The prospective 

exclusive license may be granted unless, 

within thirty (30) days from the date of 

this published Notice, the Agricultural 

Research Service receives written 

evidence and argument which 

establishes that the grant of the license 

would not be consistent with the 

requirements of 35 U.S.C. 209 and 37 

CFR 404.7. 

Richard J. Brenner, 

Assistant Administrator. 

[FR Doc. 2012–3850 Filed 2–17–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–03–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Food Safety and Inspection Service 

[Docket No. FSIS–2010–0023] 

Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia coli 

in Certain Raw Beef Products 

AGENCY: Food Safety and Inspection 

Service, USDA. 

ACTION: New schedule for 

implementation of routine testing and 

verification activities. 

SUMMARY: The Food Safety and 

Inspection Service (FSIS) is announcing 

a new date for when it will implement 

routine verification sampling and 

testing for raw beef manufacturing 

trimmings for six non-O157 Shiga toxinproducing Escherichia coli (STEC) 

serogroups (O26, O45, O103, O111, 

O121, and O145). This new date will 

provide additional time for 

establishments and laboratories to 

validate their test methods. FSIS 

announced in September 2011 plans to 

test certain raw beef products for these 

six STEC serogroups in addition to 

O157:H7. FSIS has determined that 

these organisms are adulterants of raw 

ground beef products and product 

components under the Federal Meat 

Inspection Act (FMIA). 

DATES: Beginning June 4, 2012, FSIS 

will implement routine verification 

activities, including testing, for the six 

additional STEC discussed in this 

document (O26, O45, O103, O111, 

O121, and O145), of raw beef 

manufacturing trimmings (domestic or 

imported) derived from cattle 

slaughtered on or after June 4, 2012. To 

facilitate compliance with the policy, 

and to allow industry time to implement 

any necessary changes in their food 

safety systems, FSIS will generally not 

regard raw, non-intact beef products or 

the components of these products found 

to have these pathogens as adulterated 

until June 4, 2012. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Daniel Engeljohn, Ph.D., Assistant 

Administrator, Office of Policy and 

Program Development, Food Safety and 

Inspection Service, U.S. Department of 

Agriculture, (202) 205–0495. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

On September 20, 2011, FSIS 

published a Federal Register notice 

announcing a final determination that 

raw, non-intact beef products or raw, 

intact beef products that are intended 

for use in raw, non-intact product, that 

are contaminated with Shiga toxinproducing Escherichia coli (STEC) O26, 

O45, O103, O111, O121, and O145, are 

adulterated within the meaning of 21 

U.S.C. 601(m)(1) and (m)(3)(76 FR 

58157; Sep. 20, 2011). 

FSIS announced that it intended to 

implement a verification sampling and 

testing program for the six non-O157 

STEC, as it already does for E. coli 

O157:H7. The Agency intended to begin 

this verification sampling and testing on 

March 5, 2012. The Agency noted that 

it would initially sample raw beef 

manufacturing trimmings and other 

ground beef components for the six nonO157 STEC, but that it would consider 

other products, including raw ground 

beef, contaminated with these STEC to 

be adulterated (76 FR 58160). The 

Agency asked for comments on its plans 

for implementing the program (76 FR 

58157, 58164). 

In addition, FSIS asked for comments 

on: Agency plans for a baseline survey 

of relevant STEC prevalence in raw beef 

products, whether to hold technical or 

other public meetings, validation 

guidance for pathogen detection test 

kits, various cost estimates, the type of 

outreach and information that would be 

most useful to establishments preparing 

for implementation of the Agency’s 

policy, and information that foreign 

governments might need to address 

inspection equivalency or 

implementation concerns. 

In response to comments, FSIS 

extended the public comment period 

from November 21, 2011, to December 

21, 2011, and held a public meeting by 

teleconference on December 1, 2011 to 

solicit comments (76 FR 72331; Nov. 23, 

2011). FSIS intends to publish a Federal 

Register notice discussing and 

responding to the comments that it 

received. 

Many of the comments requested a 

delay of the implementation date for 

testing for the relevant STECs for 

various reasons, including the need for 

test kits to detect these organisms to 

become more widely available. 

While FSIS is confident that reliable 

test kits will be available for commercial 

use before March 5, allowing additional 

time for beef establishments to begin 

sampling and testing with these new 

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