Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 10 / Thursday, January 16, 2025 / Notices 4717 

or your authorized representative. Send 

your completed complaint form or letter 

to USDA by mail, fax, or email. Mail: 

U.S. Department of Agriculture, 

Director, Office of Adjudication, 1400 

Independence Avenue SW, Washington, 

DC 20250–9410; Fax: (202) 690–7442; 

Email: program.intake@usda.gov. 

Persons with disabilities who require 

alternative means for communication 

(Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) 

should contact USDA’s TARGET Center 

at (202) 720–2600 (voice and TDD). 

Done at Washington, DC, on January 13, 

2025. 

Julie A. Chao, 

Deputy U.S. Manager for Codex Alimentarius. 

[FR Doc. 2025–01035 Filed 1–15–25; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3420–3F–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

The U.S. Codex Office 

Codex Alimentarius Commission: 

Meeting of the Codex Committee on 

Food Additives 

AGENCY: U.S. Codex Office, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of public meeting and 

request for comments. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Codex Office is 

sponsoring a public meeting on 

February 18, 2025, from 9 a.m. to 12 

p.m. eastern time (ET). The objective of 

the public meeting is to provide 

information and receive public 

comments on agenda items and draft 

U.S. positions to be discussed at the 

55th Session of the Codex Committee on 

Food Additives (CCFA) of the Codex 

Alimentarius Commission, which is 

scheduled to be held in Seoul, Republic 

of Korea, from March 24–28, 2025. The 

U.S. Manager for Codex Alimentarius 

and the Under Secretary for Trade and 

Foreign Agricultural Affairs recognize 

the importance of providing interested 

parties the opportunity to obtain 

background information on the 55th 

Session of the CCFA and to address 

items on the agenda. 

DATES: The public meeting is scheduled 

for February 18, 2025, from 9 a.m. to 12 

p.m. ET. 

ADDRESSES: The public meeting will 

take place in a hybrid format. The onsite location is Meeting Room 1A–001 

and 1A–002 at the U.S. Food and Drug 

Administration, Harvey Wiley Federal 

Building, 5001 Campus Drive, College 

Park, MD 20740–3835. Documents 

related to the 55th Session of the CCFA 

will be accessible via the internet at the 

following address: https://www.fao.org/ 

fao-who-codexalimentarius//detail/it/ 

?meeting=CCFA&session=55. 

Dr. Daniel Folmer, U.S. Delegate to 

the 55th Session of the CCFA, invites 

interested U.S. parties to submit their 

comments electronically to the 

following email address: 

Daniel.Folmer@fda.hhs.gov. 

Registration: In-person attendees may 

register to attend the public meeting at 

the following email address: ccfa@

cfsan.fda.gov. Virtual attendees may 

register to attend the public meeting at 

the following link: https://

fda.zoomgov.com/meeting/register/ 

vJItcOmgpj4iHgEoL7A

3kCqQesR5F9ClcMQ. Both in-person 

and virtual attendees should register by 

February 14, 2025. After registering, you 

will receive a confirmation email 

containing information about joining the 

meeting. For further information about 

the public meeting, contact Dr. 

LaShonda Cureton, U.S. Alternate 

Delegate to the 55th Session of the 

CCFA, by phone at: +1 (240) 402–1351 

or by email at: Lashonda.Cureton@

fda.hhs.gov. 

For further information about the 55th 

session of the CCFA, contact U.S. 

Delegate, Dr. Daniel Folmer, by phone 

at: +1 (240) 402–1274 or by email at: 

Daniel.Folmer@fda.hhs.gov, or U.S. 

Alternate Delegate, Dr. LaShonda 

Cureton, by phone at: +1 (240) 402–1351 

or by email at: Lashonda.Cureton@

fda.hhs.gov. For additional information 

regarding the public meeting, contact 

the U.S. Codex Office by email at: 

uscodex@usda.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

The Codex Alimentarius Commission 

was established in 1963 by two United 

Nations organizations, the Food and 

Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the 

World Health Organization (WHO). 

Through the adoption of food standards, 

codes of practice, and other guidelines 

developed by its committees, and by 

promoting their adoption and 

implementation by governments, Codex 

seeks to protect the health of consumers 

and ensure fair practices in the food 

trade. 

The Terms of Reference of the Codex 

Committee on Food Additives (CCFA) 

are: 

(a) to establish or endorse permitted 

maximum levels for individual food 

additives; 

(b) to prepare priority lists of food 

additives for risk assessment by the 

Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on 

Food Additives; 

(c) to assign functional classes to 

individual food additives; 

(d) to recommend specifications of 

identity and purity for food additives for 

adoption by the Commission; 

(e) to consider methods of analysis for 

the determination of additives in food; 

and 

(f) to consider and elaborate standards 

or codes for related subjects such as the 

labelling of food additives when sold as 

such. 

The CCFA is hosted by China. The 

United States attends the CCFA as a 

member country of the Codex 

Alimentarius. The 55th session of the 

CCFA will be co-hosted by the Republic 

of Korea. 

Issues To Be Discussed at the Public 

Meeting 

The following items from the 

Provisional Agenda for the 55th Session 

of the CCFA will be discussed during 

the public meeting: 

• Matters Referred by the Codex 

Alimentarius Commission and other 

subsidiary bodies; 

• Matters of Interest arising from 

FAO/WHO and from the 99th Meeting 

of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert 

Committee on Food Additives (JECFA); 

• Proposed draft specifications for 

identity and purity of food additives 

arising from the 99th JECFA meeting; 

• Endorsement and/or revision of 

maximum levels for food additives and 

processing aids in Codex standards; 

• Alignment of the food additive 

provisions of commodity standards: 

Report of the Electronic Working Group 

(EWG) on Alignment; 

• General Standard for Food 

Additives (GFSA): Report of the EWG on 

the GSFA; 

• General Standard for Food 

Additives (GFSA): Proposals for new 

and/or revision of food additive 

provisions (replies to circular letter (CL) 

2024/58–FA); 

• Proposed draft revision to the Class 

Names and the International Numbering 

System for Food Additives (CXG 36– 

1989); 

• Proposals for additions and changes 

to the Priority List of Substances 

proposed for evaluation by JECFA 

(replies to CL 2024/59–FA); 

• Standard for baker’s yeast (Step 4); 

• Discussion paper on the working 

practices and the engagement plan to 

avoid divergence between the GSFA, 

commodity standards and other related 

Codex texts; 

• Other business and future work. 

Public Meeting 

At the public meeting on February 18, 

2025, the draft U.S. positions on the 

agenda items will be described and 

discussed, and attendees will have the 

opportunity to pose questions and offer 

comments. Written comments may be 

offered at the meeting or sent to Dr. 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1
4718 Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 10 / Thursday, January 16, 2025 / Notices 

Daniel Folmer, U.S. Delegate to the 55th 

Session of the CCFA, at Daniel.Folmer@

fda.hhs.gov. Written comments should 

state that they relate to activities of the 

55th Session of the CCFA. 

Additional Public Notification 

Public awareness of all segments of 

rulemaking and policy development is 

important. Consequently, the U.S. 

Codex Office will announce this Federal 

Register publication on-line through the 

USDA Codex web page located at: 

https://www.usda.gov/codex, a link that 

also offers an email subscription service 

providing access to information related 

to Codex. Customers can add or delete 

their subscriptions themselves and have 

the option to password protect their 

accounts. 

USDA Non-Discrimination Statement 

No agency, officer, or employee of the 

USDA shall, on the grounds of race, 

color, national origin, religion, sex, 

gender identity, sexual orientation, 

disability, age, marital status, family/ 

parental status, income derived from a 

public assistance program, or political 

beliefs, exclude from participation in, 

deny the benefits of, or subject to 

discrimination any person in the United 

States under any program or activity 

conducted by the USDA. 

How To File a Complaint of 

Discrimination 

To file a complaint of discrimination, 

complete the USDA Program 

Discrimination Complaint Form, which 

may be accessed online at https://

www.usda.gov/oascr/filing-programdiscrimination-complaint-usdacustomer, or write a letter signed by you 

or your authorized representative. Send 

your completed complaint form or letter 

to USDA by mail, fax, or email. Mail: 

U.S. Department of Agriculture, 

Director, Office of Adjudication, 1400 

Independence Avenue SW, Washington, 

DC 20250–9410; Fax: (202) 690–7442; 

Email: program.intake@usda.gov. 

Persons with disabilities who require 

alternative means for communication 

(Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) 

should contact USDA’s TARGET Center 

at (202) 720–2600 (voice and TDD). 

Done at Washington, DC, on January 13, 

2025. 

Julie A. Chao, 

Deputy U.S. Manager for Codex Alimentarius. 

[FR Doc. 2025–01036 Filed 1–15–25; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3420–3F–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Natural Resources Conservation 

Service 

[Docket No. NRCS–2024–0021] 

Notice of Intent To Prepare an 

Environmental Impact Statement for 

the Owyhee Irrigation District 

Infrastructure Modernization Project, 

Malheur County, OR 

AGENCY: Natural Resources 

Conservation Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare 

an Environmental Impact Statement 

(EIS). 

SUMMARY: The Natural Resources 

Conservation Service (NRCS) Oregon 

State Office, in coordination with the 

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, announces 

its intent to prepare an EIS for the 

Owyhee Irrigation District (OID) 

Infrastructure Modernization Project 

(Modernization Project). The project 

area is located along the Owyhee and 

Snake rivers in Eastern Oregon 50 miles 

west of Boise, Idaho in proximity to the 

town of Nyssa, Oregon. The proposed 

EIS will examine alternative solutions to 

improve the OID agricultural water 

management. OID is the sponsoring 

local organization for the project. NRCS 

is requesting comments to identify 

significant issues, potential alternatives, 

information, and analyses relevant to 

the proposed action from all interested 

individuals, Federal and State agencies, 

and Tribes. 

DATES: We will consider comments that 

we receive by February 18, 2025. We 

will consider comments received after 

close of the comment period to the 

extent possible. 

ADDRESSES: We invite you to submit 

comments in response to this notice. 

You may submit your comments 

through the method below: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to 

https://www.regulations.gov and search 

for docket ID NRCS–2024–0021. Follow 

the online instructions for submitting 

comments. 

All comments received will be posted 

without change and made publicly 

available on www.regulations.gov. 

Individuals who require alternative 

means for communication should 

contact the U.S. Department of 

Agriculture (USDA) Target Center at 

(202) 720–2600 (voice and text 

telephone (TTY)) or dial 711 for 

Telecommunications Relay service (both 

voice and text telephone users can 

initiate this call from any telephone). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Purpose and Need 

The purpose of the OID 

Modernization Project is to improve 

agricultural water management by 

making the delivery of irrigation water 

for agricultural lands within OID more 

reliable and efficient. Watershed 

planning is authorized under the 

Watershed Protection and Flood 

Prevention Act of 1954 (Pub. L. 83–566), 

as amended, and the Flood Control Act 

of 1944 (Pub. L. 78–534). 

This action is needed to alleviate 

inefficient and unreliable access to 

irrigation water which causes 

agricultural damages for farmers in OID. 

Agriculture is an essential part of the 

Malheur County economy which only 

receives 10.1 inches of precipitation a 

year, with only 1.5 inches falling during 

the months of June, July, and August. 

The insignificant amounts of 

precipitation limit the ability of 

agricultural production. OID was 

formed with the primary purpose of 

providing the delivery of Owyhee River 

and Snake River water within Malheur 

County. Access to this irrigation water 

has allowed development of the 

agricultural community within the area. 

The OID area has been reliant on 

irrigation water delivery for over 100 

years. The OID supplies water to 

approximately 312,000 acres during a 

normal water year. 

OID operates and maintains more 

than 400 miles of canals, laterals, and 

siphons through the Bureau of 

Reclamation’s Owyhee Project. OID 

delivers water to 1,012 patrons and 

1,364 parcels from three primary 

diversions: the Owyhee River via the 

Owyhee Reservoir and two pumping 

stations located along the Snake River. 

The OID conveyance system irrigates 

approximately 67,000 total acres of 

onions, sugar beets, corn, alfalfa, and 

other crops. 

Due to rising temperatures and 

decreasing snowpack, supply shortages 

are expected to worsen in the coming 

decades. Between 2013 and 2023, the 

State issued drought declarations six 

times in Malheur County. The ability to 

deliver water efficiently and effectively, 

especially during drought years, is 

essential. The majority of the OID 

infrastructure is approximately 90 years 

old, which has reduced the water 

delivery reliability for agricultural use 

and is at risk of failure. Catastrophic 

failure of the OID infrastructure would 

stop water deliveries while the 

conveyance system is fixed, which 

would have large impacts to crops and 

users that rely on water supplied by 

OID. 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1