Tag Archives: FSIS

USDA Removes Standard for “Jambalaya”

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On May 29, 2019, the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced in a letter that it will remove the entry for Jambalaya from the Food Standards and Labeling Policy Book (Policy Book).  The change came in response to a 2013 petition from Zatarain’s, a Louisiana-based food company owned by McCormick & Company, Inc., … Continue Reading

Proposed Legislation Would Lock-In USDA’s Oversight of Cell-Based Meat

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As we previously reported, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have issued a “Formal Agreement Between FDA and USDA Regarding Oversight of Human Food Produced Using Animal Cell Technology Derived from Cell Lines of USDA-amenable Species” (the press release can be … Continue Reading

USDA Pushes Back Against Washington Post Over New Swine Slaughter Inspection System

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On February 1, 2018, FSIS put forward a proposed rule to establish a voluntary, opt-in inspection system for market hog slaughter establishments, called the New Swine Slaughter Inspection System (NSIS). Under the proposed rule, hog slaughter plants may voluntarily join a new inspection system whereby establishment personnel would be responsible for sorting and removing unfit … Continue Reading

FSIS Issues Draft Guidance to Industry for Responding to Consumer Complaints

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is concerned with an increase in recent years in the number of recalls of meat and poultry products contaminated with foreign materials.  Notably, in many cases, the recalling establishments had received multiple customer complaints before these recalls.  Customer complaints for meat and poultry … Continue Reading

USDA and FDA Provide Additional Details on Joint Regulation of Cell-Cultured Meat

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As we previously reported, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in a November 16, 2018 joint press release, announced an agreement on joint regulation of cell-cultured meat.  Though the framework was not released at the time, the press release indicated that … Continue Reading

Enforcement Activity by the USDA Food Safety Inspection Service Against Imported Siluriformes (Catfish) for “Failure to Present” Violations

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  As reported here, the domestic and import inspection program for Siluriformes fish and fish products (including catfish) was transferred from FDA to USDA in response to a congressional mandate.  After September 1, 2017, only foreign countries that had submitted documentation showing the equivalence of their Siluriformes fish inspection system with that of the U.S. … Continue Reading

FSIS Announces Move from Pulsed-Field Gel Electrophoresis to Whole Genome Sequencing for Analyzing Shiga Toxin-Producing E. coli (STEC) and Salmonella Isolates

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  Whole genome sequencing (WGS) determines the order of all of the DNA building blocks (nucleotides) in an organism’s entire genome in a single laboratory process.  A comparison of the DNA sequence of an isolated bacterial pathogen to the sequences from other samples in a DNA database can pinpoint the source of a foodborne disease … Continue Reading

New Report Reveals Sources of Foodborne Illnesses

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On November 9, 2018, the Interagency Food Safety Analytics Collaborations (IFSAC) released a report on foodborne illnesses caused by four pathogens. The data in the report, titled, “Foodborne illness source attribution estimates for 2016 for Salmonella, Escherichia coli O157, Listeria monocytogenes, and Campylobacter using multi-year outbreak surveillance data, United States,” came from 1,255 foodborne disease … Continue Reading

USDA Updates Poultry Line Speed Standards

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On August 21, 2014, USDA-FSIS published a final rule called the “Modernization of Poultry Slaughter Inspection” (79 FR 49566, Aug. 21, 2014) which amended the Agency’s poultry regulations to establish an inspection system for young chicken and turkey slaughter establishments, called the New Poultry Inspection System (NPIS). Under the final rule, the maximum line speed for young … Continue Reading

USDA and FDA Announce Joint Meeting on Animal Cell Culture Technology

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Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that they will hold a joint meeting on October 23-24, 2018, to discuss the use of cell culture technology to develop products derived from livestock and poultry. As we previously reported on this blog, FDA held a public meeting on … Continue Reading

Groups Petition FSIS to Change “Product of the USA” Policy

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The Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM) and American Grassfed Association (AGA) have petitioned the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to change its standard for making a “Product of the USA” claim on meat and meat products. Currently, FSIS allows the statement “Product of USA” if either (1) the country to which the product is … Continue Reading

Trump Administration Proposes to Consolidate Food Safety Authority into One Agency

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In a June 21, 2017 document titled “Delivering Government Solutions in the 21st Century:  Reform Plan and Reorganization Recommendations,” the Trump Administration proposes to replace the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) with a single agency called the Federal Food Safety Agency.  If the recommendations were to be … Continue Reading

USDA Issues Guidelines Regarding Livestock Slaughter and Processing Inspection Exemptions

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On May 24, the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) issued a guideline: FSIS Guideline for Determining Whether a Livestock Slaughter or Processing Firm is Exempt from the Inspection Requirements of the Federal Meat Inspection Act.  Absent an exemption, all establishments where cattle, goat, swine, or sheep are slaughtered … Continue Reading

FDA Guidance States Live Animals Processed Under USDA Regulations Do Not Need to Comply with FSVP Regulations

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On March 21, 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published guidance that live animals processed under Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulations do not need to comply with Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP) requirements. In general, live animals imported for use as food are regulated by FDA. However, they are required to be slaughtered … Continue Reading

USDA Extends Comment Period for Proposed Rule to “Modernize” Pork Inspection

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On January 19, 2018, USDA released a proposed rule called the “Modernization of Pork Slaughter” rule. The new rule – which has garnered significant industry support – aims to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the federal inspection process for pork and to allow for the rapid adoption of new food safety technologies in pork slaughter.  … Continue Reading

USCA petitions USDA for Labeling Alternative Beef Products

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) regulates the quality, safety, and labeling of meat, poultry, and egg products marketed in the United States.  Recently, alternative meat products (known as “clean” meat) produced by culturing cells have become an increasingly hot topic. On February 9, 2018, the United States Cattlemen’s … Continue Reading

USDA Rejects NCC’s Petition to Lift Poultry Line Speed

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On August 21, 2014, FSIS published a final rule called the “Modernization of Poultry Slaughter Inspection” (79 FR 49566, Aug. 21, 2014) which amended the Agency’s poultry regulations to establish an inspection system called the New Poultry Inspection System (NPIS) for young chicken and turkey slaughter establishments. Under the final rule, the maximum line speed for young … Continue Reading

USDA Releases Proposed Rule to “Modernize” Pork Inspection

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Last week, we reported that the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) cleared USDA’s “Modernization of Pork Slaughter” rule. The new rule – which has garnered significant industry support – aims to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the federal inspection process for pork and to allow for the rapid adoption of new food safety technologies in … Continue Reading

USDA’s Modernized Pork Slaughter Rule Clears OMB

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Last year, we reported that USDA’s Food Safety & Inspection Service intends to move forward with plans to modernize swine slaughter inspections by way of a “Modernization of Pork Slaughter” rule. The new rule – which has garnered significant industry support – aims to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the federal inspection process for pork and … Continue Reading

USDA Announces Proposed Rule to Amend Egg Products Inspection Regulations

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is proposing to amend the egg products inspection regulations by requiring official plants that process egg products to develop Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) systems and Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (Sanitation SOPs) and to meet other sanitation requirements consistent with the … Continue Reading

FSIS Releases 2017 Food Safety Data

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Today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced key 2017 data concerning its food safety efforts. 2017 highlights include: FSIS inspected more than 155 million head of livestock and 9.45 billion poultry carcasses.  FSIS Inspectors also conducted 6.9 million food safety and food defense procedures across 6,500 regulated establishments … Continue Reading
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