II

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2427

To require the Secretary of Agriculture to offer to enter into an agreement

with the National Academy of Sciences to coordinate the development

of recommendations to carry out an improved inspection program for

meat and poultry products, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

AUGUST 25 (legislative day, AUGUST 18), 1994

Mr. HEFLIN (for himself, Mr. COCHRAN, Mr. PRYOR, Mr. DURENBERGER,

Ms. MIKULSKI, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mr. CRAIG, and Mr. HELMS) introduced

the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee

on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

A BILL

To require the Secretary of Agriculture to offer to enter

into an agreement with the National Academy of

Sciences to coordinate the development of recommendations to carry out an improved inspection program for

meat and poultry products, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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1 SECTION 1. DEVELOPMENT OF RECOMMENDATIONS FOR

2 IMPROVED MEAT AND POULTRY INSPECTION

3 FOR DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.

4 (a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to pro5 tect the public health by providing for the development

6 of a detailed framework for an improved meat and poultry

7 inspection program that is both scientifically reliable and

8 concentrates on hazards posing the greatest risk to human

9 health.

10 (b) COORDINATION BY NATIONAL ACADEMY OF

11 SCIENCES.—Not later than 60 days after the date of en12 actment of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture (referred

13 to in this section as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall offer to enter

14 into an agreement with the National Academy of Sciences

15 (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Academy’’), under

16 which the Academy will coordinate the development and

17 evaluation of strategies and mechanisms for carrying out

18 an improved meat and poultry inspection program under

19 the jurisdiction of the Secretary that is both scientifically

20 reliable and concentrates on hazards posing the greatest

21 risk to human health.

22 (c) REPORT ON ACTIVITIES.—Not later than 180

23 days after the date on which the agreement is entered into

24 under subsection (b), the Academy shall submit to Con25 gress and the Secretary a report describing the results of
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1 the activities conducted pursuant to the agreement. The

2 report shall include:

3 (1) An evaluation of the adequacy of the cur4 rent scientific basis (as of the date of the report) for

5 carrying out risk-based meat and poultry inspection

6 programs using the approach known as hazard anal7 ysis critical control point. The evaluation shall in8 clude an examination of—

9 (A) data necessary to evaluate and com10 pare the public health impacts of current (as of

11 the date of the report) and future meat and

12 poultry inspection programs; and

13 (B) current (as of the date of the report)

14 and anticipated biological and food science tech15 nologies needed to conduct risk-based meat and

16 poultry inspection programs.

17 (2) If deficiencies are found in the current sci18 entific basis described in paragraph (1), rec19 ommendations regarding strategies needed to

20 achieve the level of scientific data and technology re21 quired to adequately protect the public health in

22 conducting meat and poultry inspection programs.

23 (3) Recommendations regarding the manage24 ment structure in the Department of Agriculture

25 and resources necessary for—
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1 (A) training the current meat and poultry

2 inspection work force (as of the date of the re3 port) to move from a visual inspection system

4 to a risk-based inspection system; and

5 (B) carrying out an effective risk-based

6 meat and poultry inspection program on a uni7 form basis throughout the United States.

8 (4) A description of the legislative and regu9 latory changes needed to carry out the recommenda10 tions made under paragraph (3).

11 (d) ADVISORY COMMITTEES.—

12 (1) CONSULTATION.—In preparing the report

13 required by subsection (c), the Academy shall con14 sult with the Meat and Poultry Advisory Committee

15 and the National Advisory Committee on

16 Microbiological Criteria.

17 (2) RECOMMENDATIONS.—The Committees re18 ferred to in paragraph (1) shall provide to the Acad19 emy written recommendations concerning the pro20 gram referred to in subsection (b). On receipt of the

21 recommendations, the Academy shall include the rec22 ommendations as an appendix to the report required

23 by subsection (c).
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1 (e) FUNDING.—From funds available to the Sec2 retary for fiscal year 1995, the Secretary may use not

3 more than $200,000 to carry out this section.

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