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

2422 

Vol. 83, No. 11 

Wednesday, January 17, 2018 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Agricultural Marketing Service 

[Docket No. AMS–LPS–17–0046] 

United States Standards for Grades of 

Pork Carcasses 

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, 

USDA . 

ACTION: Notice; reopening of comment 

period. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of 

Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural 

Marketing Service (AMS) is reopening 

the comment period on the notice 

requesting comments on revisions to the 

United States Standards for Grades of 

Pork Carcasses (pork standards) 

published in the Federal Register (82 

FR 48971) on October 23, 2017. The 

comment period for this notice closed 

on December 22, 2017. The revisions are 

intended to modernize the standards 

and meet stakeholder demands by 

segregating the population of 

commodity pork products into uniform 

groups (of similar quality, value, etc.) 

that can facilitate the production and 

marketing of pork and deliver certain 

eating expectations for the consumer. 

DATES: Comments on the notice 

published in the Federal Register (82 

FR 48971) on October 23, 2017, must be 

received by March 19, 2018. 

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are 

invited to submit comments 

electronically at https://

www.regulations.gov. Written comments 

should be sent to: Pork Carcass 

Revisions, Standardization Branch, 

Quality Assessment Division; Livestock, 

Poultry, and Seed Program, AMS, 

USDA; 1400 Independence Ave. SW, 

Room 3932–S, STOP 0258, Washington, 

DC 20250–0258. Comments may also be 

emailed to porkcarcassrevisions@

ams.usda.gov. All comments should 

reference docket number AMS–LPS–17– 

0046, the date of submission, the page 

numbers of this issue, and the October 

23, 2017, issue of the Federal Register. 

All comments received will be posted 

without change, including any personal 

information provided, and they will be 

made available for public inspection at 

the above physical address during 

regular business hours. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Bucky Gwartney, International 

Marketing Specialist, Standardization 

Branch, Quality Assessment Division, 

Livestock, Poultry, and Seed Program, 

AMS, USDA; 1400 Independence 

Avenue SW, Room 3932–S, STOP 0258, 

Washington, DC 20250–0258; phone 

(202) 720–1424; or via email at 

Bucky.Gwartney@ams.usda.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: A notice 

was published in the Federal Register 

(82 FR 48971) on October 23, 2017, 

requesting comments on revisions to the 

pork standards. The 60-day comment 

period provided in the notice closed on 

December 22, 2017. Trade organizations 

submitted comments requesting a 60- 

day extension to enable industry 

stakeholders more time to evaluate the 

proposed changes and to submit 

comments. Therefore, AMS is reopening 

the comment period for the notice until 

March 19, 2018. AMS is reopening the 

public comment period to ensure that 

interested persons have sufficient time 

to review and comment on the notice. 

Dated: January 10, 2018. 

Bruce Summers, 

Acting Administrator, Agricultural Marketing 

Service. 

[FR Doc. 2018–00627 Filed 1–16–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–02–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

Service 

[Docket No. APHIS–2017–0090] 

Addition of the Philippines to the List 

of Regions Affected by Highly 

Pathogenic Avian Influenza 

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: We are advising the public 

that we are adding the Philippines to 

the list of regions that the Animal and 

Plant Health Inspection Service 

considers to be affected by highly 

pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). This 

action follows our imposition of HPAIrelated restrictions on avian 

commodities originating from or 

transiting the Philippines as a result of 

the confirmation of HPAI in the 

Philippines. 

DATES: The Philippines was added to 

the list of regions under temporary 

restrictions on August 16, 2017. The 

Philippines is added to the list of 

regions considered to be affected by 

HPAI as of January 17, 2018. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. 

Ingrid Kotowski, Regionalization 

Evaluation Services, National Import 

Export Services, VS, APHIS, 920 Main 

Campus Drive Suite 200, Raleigh, NC, 

27606; (919) 855–7732; 

Ingrid.Kotowski@aphis.usda.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

regulations in 9 CFR part 94 (referred to 

below as the regulations) govern the 

importation of certain animals and 

animal products into the United States 

to prevent the introduction of various 

animal diseases, including Newcastle 

disease and highly pathogenic avian 

influenza (HPAI). The regulations 

prohibit or restrict the importation of 

live poultry, poultry meat, and other 

poultry products from regions where 

these diseases are considered to exist. 

Section 94.6 of part 94 of the 

regulations contains requirements 

governing the importation into the 

United States of carcasses, meat, parts or 

products of carcasses, and eggs (other 

than hatching eggs) of poultry, game 

birds, or other birds from regions of the 

world where HPAI exists or is 

reasonably believed to exist. HPAI is an 

extremely infectious and potentially 

fatal form of avian influenza in birds 

and poultry that, once established, can 

spread rapidly from flock to flock. A list 

of regions that the Animal and Plant 

Health Inspection Service (APHIS) 

considers affected with HPAI of any 

subtype is maintained on the APHIS 

website at https://www.aphis.usda.gov/ 

aphis/ourfocus/animalhealth/animaland-animal-product-importinformation/ct-animal-disease-status. 

APHIS receives notice of HPAI 

outbreaks from veterinary officials of the 

exporting country, from the World 

Organization for Animal Health (OIE), 

or from other sources the Administrator 

determines to be reliable. On August 11, 

2017, the veterinary authorities of the 

Philippines reported to the OIE that 


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