This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains notices to the public of the proposed

issuance of rules and regulations. The

purpose of these notices is to give interested

persons an opportunity to participate in the

rule making prior to the adoption of the final

rules.

Proposed Rules Federal Register

40381

Vol. 63, No. 145

Wednesday, July 29, 1998

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Food Safety and Inspection Service

9 CFR Parts 309, 310, 381, and 417

[Docket No. 98–039N]

HACCP-Based Meat and Poultry

Inspection Concepts: In-Plant

Slaughter Inspection Models Study

Plan

AGENCY: Food Safety and Inspection

Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of availability and

request for comments.

SUMMARY: The Food Safety and

Inspection Service (FSIS) is making

available for comment a paper

describing the plan for evaluating new

livestock and poultry slaughter

inspection models in certain

establishments operating under Hazard

Analysis and Critical Control Point

(HACCP) systems. The paper was

prepared for use by establishments

slaughtering certain market classes of

animals and participating in the

Agency’s HACCP-Based Inspection

Models project and by the FSIS project

team. During this project, FSIS will test

and evaluate new approaches to

fulfilling inspection requirements by

plants and FSIS inspectors. The project

will also test new FSIS food safety and

other consumer protection activities in

transportation and distribution

channels. The new models are intended

to help the Agency determine how best

to maintain and improve upon the level

of protection provided by current

inspection procedures, and at the same

time use its resources more effectively.

The paper outlines the approaches that

will be used by the participating

establishments and by the FSIS

inspectors assigned to these plants. The

paper also describes the organoleptic

and microbiological evaluations to be

conducted by the FSIS project team.

DATES: To receive full consideration,

comments should be received by

September 28, 1998.

ADDRESSES: The document ‘‘HACCPBased Inspection Models Project: Inplant Slaughter’’ may be viewed in the

FSIS Docket Room, Room 102 Cotton

Annex Building, 300 12th Street, SW.,

Washington, DC 20250–3700. An

electronic version of the document is

available on-line at FSIS’s homepage at

‘‘http://www.fsis.usda.gov.’’ Written

comments on the document may be sent

in triplicate to FSIS Docket Clerk,

DOCKET #98-XXXN, Room 102 Cotton

Annex Building, 300 12th Street, SW.,

Washington, DC 20250–3700.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Patricia F. Stolfa, Assistant Deputy

Administrator, Office of Policy, Program

Development, and Evaluation, Food

Safety and Inspection Service, U.S.

Department of Agriculture, Washington,

DC 20250–3700; (202) 205–0699.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

FSIS is conducting a project to

develop and test new models for the

inspection of certain meat and poultry

products produced under the Agency’s

‘‘Pathogen Reduction; Hazard Analysis

and Critical Control Point Systems’’

(PR/HACCP) final rule (61 FR 38806;

July 25, 1996). FSIS will also test a new

in-distribution inspection concept;

however, the paper described here only

concerns the inplant slaughter phase of

the project. The inspection models

project was announced in a June 10,

1997, Federal Register notice, ‘‘HACCPBased Meat and Poultry Inspection

Concepts,’’ requesting public comments

on the design and development of new

inspection models for slaughter and

processing under HACCP systems of

young, healthy, uniform animals (62 FR

31553). The project has been a subject

of discussion at several public meetings

during the past year.

The HACCP-Based Inspection Models

project is intended to produce a flexible,

more efficient, fully integrated system of

oversight and controls. FSIS expects this

system of establishment controls and

Agency oversight and verification, to

yield increased food-safety and other

benefits to consumers. The new system

should enable certain establishments to

better meet their responsibilities under

the PR/HACCP regulations and permit

FSIS to deploy its inspection resources

more effectively both in-plant and indistribution.

In the inspection models for selected

market classes that FSIS is developing,

slaughter process control will be an

industry responsibility subject to FSIS

oversight and verification. The models,

when refined, should enable FSIS to: (1)

maintain and enhance the food-safety

and other consumer protection benefits

of the current carcass inspection system;

(2) effectively and efficiently oversee,

evaluate, and verify industry

implementation of the PR/HACCP

regulations; and (3) ensure that meat

and poultry products are transported

and distributed under conditions that

will not render them adulterated. The

project will thoroughly test the Agency’s

ability to achieve these objectives using

the new models in certain market

classes of livestock and birds.

Establishments participating in the

project will carry out food-safety-related

and other consumer protection

activities. Establishment employees will

conduct anatomical and pathological

examinations of carcasses, and FSIS

inspectors will oversee, evaluate, and

verify the effectiveness and reliability of

the establishments’ slaughter process

controls.

The paper ‘‘HACCP-Based Inspection

Models Project: Inplant Slaughter’’

outlines the establishment processcontrol responsibilities and FSIS

inspection activities to be carried out

during the in-plant phase of the project,

and describes the microbial and

organoleptic evaluation procedures

which the project team will carry out.

Done, at Washington, D.C., July 22, 1998.

Thomas J. Billy,

Administrator.

[FR Doc. 98–20173 Filed 7–28–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–DM–P

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Food Safety and Inspection Service

9 CFR Parts 309, 310, 381, and 417

[Docket No. 98–009N]

HACCP-Based Meat and Poultry

Inspection Concepts: Diseases and

Conditions Identifiable During PostMortem Inspection

AGENCY: Food Safety and Inspection

Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of availability and

request for comments.
40382 Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 145 /Wednesday, July 29, 1998 / Proposed Rules

SUMMARY: The Food Safety and

Inspection Service (FSIS) is making

available for comment a paper that lists

two categories of livestock and poultry

diseases and conditions observed at

post-mortem inspection. One category is

comprised of diseases and conditions

that the Agency believes pose food

safety risks or hazards. The other

category is comprised of diseases and

conditions that present other consumer

protection issues. FSIS has developed

the list as part of its HACCP-Based

Inspection Models Project.

DATES: To receive full consideration,

comments should be received by

September 28, 1998.

ADDRESSES: The document ‘‘HACCPBased Inspection Models Project:

Diseases and Conditions Observable in

Meat and Poultry’’ may be viewed at the

FSIS Docket Room, Room 102 Cotton

Annex Building, 300 12th Street, SW.,

Washington, DC 20250–3700. An

electronic version of the document is

available on-line at FSIS’s homepage at

http://www.fsis.usda.gov. Written

comments on the document may be sent

in triplicate to FSIS Docket Clerk,

DOCKET #98–009N, Room 102 Cotton

Annex Building, 300 12th Street, SW.,

Washington, DC 20250–3700.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Patricia F. Stolfa, Assistant Deputy

Administrator, Office of Policy, Program

Development and Evaluation, Food

Safety and Inspection Service, U.S.

Department of Agriculture, Washington,

DC 20250–3700; (202) 205–0699.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

FSIS is carrying out a project to

develop and test new methods for the

inspection during slaughter of certain

market classes of animals and their meat

and poultry products produced under

the Agency’s ‘‘Pathogen Reduction;

Hazard Analysis and Critical Control

Point Systems’’ (PR/HACCP) final rule

(61 FR 38806; July 25, 1996). This

project is designed to develop, in plants,

these approaches to slaughtering

inspection of young, healthy and

uniform animals and birds that are

consistent with the HACCP/PR

regulation, and to explore the possibility

of redeployment of some inspection

resources from these plants in ways that

will enhance food safety protection all

along the farm-to-table continuum. It

will also help define the respective

responsibilities of FSIS and the

regulated industry in slaughter and

processing establishments, and in

distribution channels outside of

inspected establishments.

In a June 10, 1997, Federal Register

notice, ‘‘HACCP-Based Meat and

Poultry Inspection Concepts,’’ FSIS

requested public comment on the design

and development of new inspection

models for slaughter and processing in

a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control

Point (HACCP) environment (62 FR

31553). This notice summarized the

National Academy of Sciences and

General Accounting Office’s

recommendations that FSIS reduce its

reliance on organoleptic (sensory)

inspection and redeploy its resources to

utilize regulatory approaches that are

based on risks. To accomplish these

objectives, new inspection models or

methods must be developed, and these

must be consistent with the meat and

poultry inspection laws as well as

systems put in place by the PR/HACCP

final rule.

A June 24–25, 1997, public meeting,

which the notice announced, provided

a forum for dialogue between FSIS and

all parties interested in the project. This

project has also been discussed at the

September 9–11, 1997, January 13–14,

1998, and May 12–14, 1998, meetings of

the National Advisory Committee on

Meat and Poultry Inspection. It will also

be discussed at FSIS’ July 27 public

meeting on its HACCP-based Inspection

Models Project for Slaughtering

establishments.

Diseases and Conditions that Pose Food

Safety Risks vs. Ones That Pose Other

Consumer Protection Issues

As part of the development of new

inspection models or methods that are

consistent with the meat and poultry

inspection laws and with systems put in

place by the PR/HACCP final rule,

animal diseases and conditions

observable at post-mortem inspection

that pose food-safety hazards or risks

need to be distinguished from diseases

and conditions that present other

consumer protection issues. In the past,

the Agency has not made this

distinction because, under the

traditional approach to inspection,

resources are not assigned according to

public-health risk.

HACCP, however, focuses on hazards.

The diseases and conditions listed in

the paper are examples of potential

hazards that, in the future,

establishments might consider when

conducting their hazard analyses and in

developing their HACCP plans or, with

respect to the non-food-safety-related

conditions, in developing slaughter

process control programs.

The first category of diseases and

conditions listed in the paper is

comprised of diseases and conditions

that pose food-safety hazards or risks

(within the meaning of 9 CFR 417.1 and

417.2(a)); the second is comprised of

animal diseases and conditions that

pose other consumer protection issues.

Meat and poultry products affected by

diseases and conditions in either

category are to be removed from the

human food supply in the interests of

consumers, because diseases and

conditions in either category would

adulterate the food.

Because FSIS has not previously

delineated these categories, and because

establishments are not now expected to

have categorized diseases and

conditions in this manner, FSIS

determined that it would be useful to

have a broad base of comments on the

list. The list was developed by Agency

experts based, in part, on informal

consultations with their colleagues

outside the Agency and the

Government.

In the course of the HACCP-Based

Inspection Models project, the volunteer

establishments will decide how best to

remove adulterated carcasses and parts

from the food supply, and FSIS will

decide how best to verify that only safe,

wholesome products are entering

commerce. These decisions will

depend, in part, on knowing which

diseases and conditions affect food

safety (controlled by HACCP systems)

and which are aesthetic conditions (but

are subject to slaughter process

controls). The paper, ‘‘HACCP-Based

Inspection Models Project: Diseases and

Conditions to be Removed from Meat

and Poultry’’ is intended to inform

project participants and the public of

the Agency’s views on this subject. The

paper is available for review at the

location indicated above in ADDRESSES.

Done at Washington, DC, on: July 22, 1998.

Thomas J. Billy,

Administrator.

[FR Doc. 98–20172 Filed 7–28–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–DM–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration

14 CFR Part 21

Existence of Proposed Airworthiness

Design Standards for Acceptance

Under the Primary Category Rule

AGENCY: Federal Aviation

Administration (FAA), DOT.

ACTION: Proposed airworthiness

standards for acceptance under the

primary category rule; request for

comments.