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

15153

Vol. 62, No. 61

Monday, March 31, 1997

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Food and Consumer Service

Special Supplemental Nutrition

Program for Women, Infants and

Children (WIC): Poverty Income

Guidelines

AGENCY: Food and Consumer Service,

USDA.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: The Department announces

adjusted poverty income guidelines to

be used by State agencies in

determining the income eligibility of

persons applying to participate in the

Special Supplemental Nutrition

Program for Women, Infants and

Children (WIC Program). These poverty

income guidelines are to be used in

conjunction with the WIC Regulations.

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 1997.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Barbara Hallman, Branch Chief, Policy

and Program Development Branch,

Supplemental Food Programs Division,

FCS, USDA, 3101 Park Center Drive,

Alexandria, Virginia 22302, (703) 305–

2730.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Regulatory Flexibility Act

This action is not a rule as defined by

the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C.

601–612) and thus is exempt from the

provisions of this Act.

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995

This notice does not contain reporting

or recordkeeping requirements subject

to approval by the Office of

Management and Budget in accordance

with the Paperwork Reduction Act of

1995 (44 U.S.C. 3507).

Executive Order 12372

This program is listed in the Catalog

of Federal Domestic Assistance

Programs under No. 10.557 and is

subject to the provisions of Executive

Order 12372, which requires

intergovernmental consultation with

State and local officials (7 CFR part

3015, subpart V, 48 FR 29112 June 24,

1983).

Description

Section 17(d)(2)(A) of the Child

Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1786

(d)(2)(A)) requires the Secretary of

Agriculture to establish income criteria

to be used with nutritional risk criteria

in determining a person’s eligibility for

participation in the WIC Program. The

law provides that persons will be

income eligible for the WIC Program

only if they are members of families that

satisfy the income standard prescribed

for reduced price school meals under

section 9(b) of the National School

Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)). Under

section 9(b), the income limit for

reduced price school meals is 185

percent of the Federal Poverty Income

Guidelines, as adjusted.

Section 9(b) also requires that these

guidelines be revised annually to reflect

changes in the Consumer Price Index.

The annual revision for 1997 was

published by the Department of Health

and Human Services (DHHS) in the

Federal Register on March 10, 1997 at

62 FR 10856. The guidelines published

by DHHS are referred to as the poverty

income guidelines.

Section 246.7(d)(1) of the WIC

regulations specifies that State agencies

may prescribe income guidelines either

equaling the income guidelines

established under section 9 of the

National School Lunch Act for reduced

price school meals or identical to State

or local guidelines for free or reduced

price health care. However, in

conforming WIC income guidelines to

State or local health care guidelines, the

State cannot establish WIC guidelines

which exceed the guidelines for reduced

price school meals, or which are less

than 100 percent of the Federal poverty

income guidelines. Consistent with the

method used to compute eligibility

guidelines for reduced price meals

under the National School Lunch

Program, the poverty income guidelines

were multiplied by 1.85 and the results

rounded upward to the next whole

dollar.

At this time the Department is

publishing the maximum and minimum

WIC poverty income limits by

household size for the period July 1,

1997 through June 30, 1998. Consistent

with section 17(f)(17) of the Child

Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C.

1786(f)(17)), a State agency may

implement the revised WIC income

eligibility guidelines concurrently with

the implementation of income eligibility

guidelines under the Medicaid program

established under title XIX of the Social

Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396 et seq.).

State agencies may coordinate

implementation with the revised

Medicaid guidelines, but in no case may

implementation take place later than

July 1, 1997. State agencies that do not

coordinate implementation with the

revised Medicaid guidelines must

implement the WIC income eligibility

guidelines July 1, 1997. The first table

of this notice contains the income limits

by household size for the 48 contiguous

States, the District of Columbia and all

Territories, including Guam. Because

the poverty income guidelines for

Alaska and Hawaii are higher than for

the 48 contiguous States, separate tables

for Alaska and Hawaii have been

included for the convenience of the

State agencies.

INCOME ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES

[Effective from July 1, 1997 to June 30, 1998]

Household size

Federal Poverty Guidelines Reduced Price Meals—185%

Annual Month Week Annual Month Week

48 CONTIGUOUS UNITED STATES, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, GUAM AND TERRITORIES

1 ........................................................................................ 7,890 658 152 14,597 1,217 281
15154 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 61 / Monday, March 31, 1997 / Notices

INCOME ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES—Continued

[Effective from July 1, 1997 to June 30, 1998]

Household size

Federal Poverty Guidelines Reduced Price Meals—185%

Annual Month Week Annual Month Week

2 ........................................................................................ 10,610 885 205 19,629 1,636 378

3 ........................................................................................ 13,330 1,111 257 24,661 2,056 475

4 ........................................................................................ 16,050 1,338 309 29,693 2,475 572

5 ........................................................................................ 18,770 1,565 361 34,725 2,894 668

6 ........................................................................................ 21,490 1,791 414 39,757 3,314 765

7 ........................................................................................ 24,210 2,018 466 44,789 3,733 862

8 ........................................................................................ 26,930 2,245 518 49,821 4,152 959

For each add’l family member add ................................... +2,720 +227 +53 +5,032 +420 +97

ALASKA

1 ........................................................................................ 9,870 823 190 18,260 1,522 352

2 ........................................................................................ 13,270 1,106 256 24,550 2,046 473

3 ........................................................................................ 16,670 1,390 321 30,840 2,570 594

4 ........................................................................................ 20,070 1,673 386 37,130 3,095 715

5 ........................................................................................ 23,470 1,956 452 43,420 3,619 835

6 ........................................................................................ 26,870 2,240 517 49,710 4,143 956

7 ........................................................................................ 30,270 2,523 583 56,000 4,667 1,077

8 ........................................................................................ 33,670 2,806 648 62,290 5,191 1,198

For each add’l family member add ................................... +3,400 +284 +66 +6,290 +525 +121

HAWAII

1 ........................................................................................ 9,070 756 175 16,780 1,399 323

2 ........................................................................................ 12,200 1,017 235 22,570 1,881 435

3 ........................................................................................ 15,330 1,278 295 28,361 2,364 546

4 ........................................................................................ 18,460 1,539 355 34,151 2,846 657

5 ........................................................................................ 21,590 1,800 416 39,942 3,329 769

6 ........................................................................................ 24,720 2,060 476 45,732 3,811 880

7 ........................................................................................ 27,850 2,321 536 51,523 4,294 991

8 ........................................................................................ 30,980 2,582 596 57,313 4,777 1,103

For each add’l family member add ................................... +3,130 +261 +61 +5,791 +483 +112

Dated: March 21, 1997.

William E. Ludwig,

Administrator.

[FR Doc. 97–8096 Filed 3–28–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–30–P

Food Safety and Inspection Service

[Docket No. 97–002N]

Solicitations for Bids on Proposals

Relating to FSIS’s Farm to Table

Strategy

AGENCY: Food Safety and Inspection

Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: The Food Safety and

Inspection Service (FSIS) has

announced in the Commerce Business

Daily a series of solicitations for bids

concerning animal production practices

as they relate to food safety. Four of

these solicitations consist of

demonstrating voluntarily implemented

pre-slaughter practices that reduce

contaminants in or on food animals

presented for slaughter and enhance the

ability of slaughter establishments to

meet pathogen reduction performance

standards and institute sound risk-based

HACCP plans for incoming animals. The

interest areas are pork, poultry, non-fed

beef and sheep. A fifth project is to learn

what training methodologies have been

effective in improving food animal

production safety practices. A sixth

project is to support a survey of small

producers to determine producer needs

as slaughter establishments develop

pathogen reduction HACCP systems.

ADDRESSES: Solicitation packages may

be requested from Julie Adams, Head,

Acquisition Agreements Section, Room

2161, South Agriculture Building, FSIS,

USDA, Washington, DC 20250; FAX

(202) 690–1814.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Refer to the Commerce Business Daily,

dated 2/27/97, page 4.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

In the final rule, ‘‘Pathogen

Reduction; Hazard Analysis and Critical

Control Point (HACCP) Systems’’ (61 FR

38806), published on July 25, 1996,

FSIS discussed its farm-to-table food

safety strategy (61 FR 38810). This

strategy focuses on the control of food

safety hazards throughout the

continuum of animal production,

slaughter and processing, distribution,

and sale of meat and poultry products.

FSIS has historically focused on the

manufacturing of meat and poultry

products through its inspection

program; however, the Agency’s public

health mandate requires that it also

consider the pre- and post-processing

hazards as part of a comprehensive

strategy to prevent foodborne illness.

The farm-to-table food safety strategy

is founded on three principles:

• Hazards that could result in

foodborne illness arise at each stage of

the farm-to-table continuum: animal

production and slaughter, and the

processing, transportation, storage, and

retail, restaurant, or food service sale of

meat and poultry products. Each stage

presents hazards of pathogen and other

contamination and each provides

opportunities for minimizing the effect

of those hazards.

• Those in control of each segment of

the farm-to-table continuum bear

responsibility for identifying and

preventing or reducing food safety

hazards that are under their operational

control.