Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 205 / Monday, October 23, 2000 / Notices 63229

communities deal with economic

losses?

5. If the tobacco production control

program is terminated by either

producers voting in a triennial

referendum or by legislative repeal,

what do you see as the consequences to

tobacco producers and tobacco

dependent communities? If the tobacco

production control program is

eliminated, what health related

consequences, if any, do you see

occurring? In the absence of a tobacco

control program, what initiatives should

be taken to help maintain a level

playing field for independent tobacco

producers?

6. Based on the many internal and

external factors affecting the tobacco

program, do you feel that a buyout of

production quotas and elimination of

the tobacco production control program

is a viable solution? If a buyout is a

solution, should it be mandatory for all

quota holders, tenants and producers or

voluntary, with some form of tobacco

production and price support program

remaining in place? If a buyout is a

solution, at what rate per pound should

the compensation be set?

7. Small farms in the South have

declined drastically over the past 10

years, with tobacco now being produced

on approximately 85,000 farms, most

being small farms. The reduction in

tobacco quotas has added to the decline

in small farms. Since many small farms

are owned by African-American farmers

and thus tobacco producers, to what

extent do civil rights concerns,

economic and rural conditions combine

to further increase economic problems

in tobacco dependent communities?

What impact have recent changes in the

economies of tobacco had on farm

workers in tobacco dependent

communities? What initiatives currently

address farm workers economic and

social needs created by this situation?

What new initiatives are needed in this

area?

8. What additional measures should

be taken to prevent tobacco use,

particularly by young people, and to

help reduce disease caused by tobacco

products?

Signed at Washington, DC, on October 18,

2000.

Keith Kelly,

Administrator, Farm Service Agency.

[FR Doc. 00–27221 Filed 10–20–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–05–P

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Food Safety and Inspection Service

[Docket No. 00–014R2]

Announcement of and Request for

Comment Regarding Industry Petition

on Hazard Analysis and Critical

Control Point (HACCP) Petition

AGENCY: Food Safety and Inspection

Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice, re-opening of comment

period.

SUMMARY: The Food Safety and

Inspection Service (FSIS) is, for the

second time, reopening the comment

period on a notice published in the

Federal Register on May 15, 2000,

announcing the availability of and

requesting comment on a petition

received from several trade associations.

The petitioners requested FSIS to

amend sections of its Hazard Analysis

and Critical Control Point (HACCP)

regulations. The comment period will

be reopened for an additional 60 days.

DATES: Comments must be received on

or before December 22, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Submit one original and

two copies of written comments to: FSIS

Docket Room, Docket #00–014R2, Room

102 Cotton Annex Building, 300 12th

Street, SW., Washington, DC 20250–

3700. All comments received in

response to this notice will be

considered part of the public record and

will be available for viewing in the FSIS

Docket Room between 8:30 a.m. and

4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Daniel L. Engeljohn, Director,

Regulations Development and Analysis

Division, Food Safety and Inspection

Service, Washington, DC 20250–3700,

Telephone (202) 720–5627, FAX (202)

690–0486.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On May

15, 2000, FSIS published a notice in the

Federal Register announcing the

availability of and requesting comment

on a petition received from a group of

trade associations (65 FR 30952). The

petition asked FSIS to amend sections of

the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control

Point (HACCP) regulations (9 CFR part

417). The petitioners argued that the

changes would increase the

effectiveness of establishments’ HACCP

systems and would make the regulations

more consistent with the HACCP

principles published in 1997 by the

National Advisory Committee on

Microbiological Criteria for Food

(NACMCF). However, the petition was

submitted with no data or specific

examples to support the requests being

made. The notice provided a 60-day

comment period, which ended on July

14, 2000.

FSIS has received a request from the

National Advisory Committee on Meat

and Poultry Inspection (NACMPI) to

extend the comment period to allow the

petitioners more time to provide

specific examples and data to support

the recommendations they posed in

their petition. The NACMPI also

requested that FSIS make available a set

of side-by-side documents discussing

definitions, principles, procedures, and

prerequisites of FSIS, the Food and Drug

Administration, the NACMCF, and the

Codex Alimentarius Commission’s

HACCP procedures.

In response to the requests, FSIS

reopened the comment period for 60

days (65 FR 45749), making comments

due September 12, 2000. Also, FSIS

prepared a set of side-by-side

documents which are available on the

FSIS homepage at www.fsis.usda.gov

and also in the FSIS Docket Room (see

ADDRESSES).

FSIS has received another request

from a group of trade associations to

reopen the comment period once again

to allow more time for analysis and

comment development. The group

believes the additional time will

improve their comments which will

help to aid in the refinement of the

HACCP regulations.

In response to this request, FSIS is

reopening the comment period for an

additional 60 days, making comments

due December 22, 2000. Comments

received from September 13, 2000, until

the date of this publication will also be

included in the official record.

Additional Public Notification

Public awareness of all segments of

rulemaking and policy development is

important. Consequently, in an effort to

better ensure that minorities, women,

and persons with disabilities are aware

of this notice, FSIS will announce it and

provide copies of this Federal Register

publication in the FSIS Constituent

Update. FSIS provides a weekly FSIS

Constituent Update, which is

communicated via fax to over 300

organizations and individuals. In

addition, the update is available on-line

through the FSIS web page located at

http://www.fsis.usda.gov. The update is

used to provide information regarding

FSIS policies, procedures, regulations,

Federal Register notices, FSIS public

meetings, recalls, and any other types of

information that could affect or would

be of interest to our constituents/

stakeholders. The constituent fax list

consists of industry, trade, and farm

groups, consumer interest groups, allied

63230 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 205 / Monday, October 23, 2000 / Notices

health professionals, scientific

professionals, and other individuals that

have requested to be included. Through

these various channels, FSIS is able to

provide information to a much broader,

more diverse audience. For more

information and to be added to the

constituent fax list, fax your request to

the Congressional and Public Affairs

Office, at (202) 720–5704.

Done at Washington, DC on: October 13,

2000.

Thomas J. Billy,

Administrator.

[FR Doc. 00–27106 Filed 10–20–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–DM–P

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Food Safety and Inspection Service

[Docket No. 00–040N]

National Advisory Committee on Meat

and Poultry Inspection

AGENCY: Food Safety and Inspection

Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of public meeting.

SUMMARY: The National Advisory

Committee on Meat and Poultry

Inspection (NACMPI) will hold an open

meeting on October 31–November 1,

2000, to review and discuss three issues:

(1) Residue Control in a HACCP

Environment, (2) Sharing Recall

Information with State and Other

Federal Authorities, and (3) HACCP—

Phase II. The three subcommittees of the

full Committee will also meet on

October 31, 2000, to continue working

on issues discussed during the full

Committee session. All interested

parties are welcome to attend the

meeting and to submit written

comments and suggestions concerning

issues the Committee will review and

discuss.

DATES: The full Committee will hold an

open meeting on Tuesday October 31,

and Wednesday, November 1, 2000,

from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Subcommittees will hold open meetings on

Tuesday, October 31, 2000, from 7 p.m.

to 9 p.m.

ADDRESSES: All Committee meetings

will take place at Loews L’Enfant Plaza

Hotel, 480 L’Enfant Plaza, SW.,

Washington, DC 20024; telephone (202)

484–1000. The full committee will meet

in Ballroom B & C on October 31 and

Ballroom C on November 1. The

Subcommittees will meet in the

Montcalm, Marquette, and Lafayette

Rooms. A meeting agenda is available

on the FSIS Web Site at http://

www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/nacmpi

which is a sub-web page of the FSIS

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

Submit one original and two copies of

written comments to the FSIS Docket

Room, Docket #00–040N, U.S.

Department of Agriculture, Food Safety

and Inspection Service, Room 102

Cotton Annex, 300 12th Street, SW.,

Washington, DC 20250–3700.

Comments may also be sent by facsimile

(202) 205–0381. The comments and the

official transcript of the meeting, when

they become available, will be kept in

the FSIS Docket Room at the address

provided above. All comments received

in response to this notice will be

considered part of the public record and

will be available for viewing in the FSIS

Docket Room between 8:30 a.m. and

4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms.

Cheryl Green at (202) 720–6290, FAX

(202) 690–1030, or E-mail

cheryl.green@usda.gov. Persons

requiring a sign language interpreter or

other special accommodations should

notify Ms. Green by October 24, 2000,

at the above numbers or by e-mail.

Information is also available on FSIS

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

OPPDE/nacmpi.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

On March 22, 1999, the Secretary of

Agriculture renewed the charter for the

NACMPI. The Committee provides

advice and recommendations to the

Secretary of Agriculture pertaining to

Federal and State meat and poultry

inspection programs pursuant to

sections 7(c), 24, 205, 301(a)(3), and

301(c) of the Federal Meat Inspection

Act and sections 5(a)(3), 5(c), 8(b), and

11(e) of the Poultry Products Inspection

Act. The FSIS Administrator is the

chairperson of the Committee.

Membership of the Committee is drawn

from representatives of consumer

groups; producers, processors, and

marketers from the meat and poultry

industry; and State government officials.

The current members of the NACMPI

are: Magdi Abadir, Cuisine Solutions;

Terry Burkhardt, Wisconsin Bureau of

Meat Safety and Inspection; Dr. James

Denton, University of Arkansas;

Caroline Smith-DeWaal, Center for

Science in the Public Interest; Nancy

Donley, Safe Tables Our Priority; Carol

Tucker Foreman, Food Policy Institute,

Consumer Federation of America; Dr.

Cheryl Hall, Zacky Farms, Inc.; Kathleen

Hanigan, Farmland Foods; Dr. Lee C.

Jan, Texas Department of Health; Alice

Johnson, National Turkey Federation;

Dr. Collette Schultz Kaster, Premium

Standard Farms; Dr. Daniel E.

LaFontaine, South Carolina MeatPoultry Inspection Department; Michael

Mamminga, Iowa Department of

Agriculture; Dr. Dale Morse, New York

Office of Public Health; Rosemary

Mucklow, National Meat Association;

Donna Richardson, Howard University

Cancer Center; and Gary Weber,

National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.

The Committee has three

subcommittees that deliberate on

specific issues and make

recommendations to the whole

Committee. The Committee makes

recommendations to the Secretary of

Agriculture.

Members of the public will be

required to register before entering the

meeting.

Additional Public Notification

Public awareness of all segments of

rulemaking and policy development is

important. Consequently, in an effort to

better ensure that minorities, women,

and persons with disabilities are aware

of this notice, FSIS will announce it and

provide copies of this Federal Register

publication in the FSIS Constituent

Update. FSIS provides a weekly FSIS

Constituent Update, which is

communicated via fax to over 300

organizations and individuals. In

addition, the update is available on-line

through the FSIS web page located at

http://www.fsis.usda.gov. The update is

used to provide information regarding

FSIS policies, procedures, regulations,

Federal Register notices, FSIS public

meetings, recalls, and any other types of

information that could affect or would

be of interest to our constituents/

stakeholders. The constituent fax list

consists of industry, trade, farm, and

consumer interest groups, allied health

professionals and scientific

professionals, and other individuals that

have requested to be included. Through

these various channels, FSIS is able to

provide information to a much broader,

more diverse audience. For more

information and to be added to the

constituent fax list, fax your request to

the FSIS Congressional and Public

Affairs Office, at (202) 720–5704.

Done at Washington, DC on: October 13,

2000.

Thomas J. Billy,

Administrator.

[FR Doc. 00–27105 Filed 10–20–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–DM–P