[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 176 (Tuesday, September 12, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47346-47348]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-22633]



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 Notices
                                                 Federal Register
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 This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules 
 or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings 
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  Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 176 / Tuesday, September 12, 1995 / 
Notices  


[[Page 47346]]


DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Food Safety and Inspection Service
[Docket No. 95-040N]


FSIS's Top-to-Bottom Review--Notice of Availability of Report

AGENCY: Food Safety and Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is announcing 
the availability of a preliminary report entitled ``Top-to-Bottom 
Review.'' The report, which consists of four volumes, contains analyses 
and options developed by teams of Agency employees who examined the 
Agency's future roles, resource allocation and organizational 
structure. FSIS particularly seeks comments from all interested parties 
concerning the regulatory roles analyses and options found in Volume 
II.

DATES: Comments will be accepted through October 31, 1995.

ADDRESS FOR COMMENTS: Comments should be addressed to: Top-to-Bottom 
Review, Room 350-E, Administration Building, Food Safety and Inspection 
Service, USDA, Washington, DC 20250.

ORDERS: The report may be obtained by contacting the National Technical 
Information Service (NTIS), U.S. Department of Commerce, 5285 Port 
Royal Road, Springfield, VA 22161. Either paper or diskette copies may 
be purchased from NTIS.
    Orders for the diskette, which contains all four volumes of the 
report, should reference NTIS accession number PB95-505392. Orders for 
paper copies should reference the accession number for the particular 
volume or volumes desired. They are as follows: Volume I: Report 
Digest, PB95-265419; Volume II: FSIS Regulatory Roles, PB95-265427; 
Volume III: FSIS Structure, PB95-265435; Volume IV: FSIS Resource 
Allocation and Other Administrative Subjects, PB95-265443.
    For telephone orders or further information on placing an order, 
call NTIS at (703) 487-4650 for regular service or (800) 553-NTIS for 
rush service. To access the document electronically for ordering and 
downloading via FedWorld, dial 703-321-3339 with a modem or Telnet 
fedworld.gov. For technical assistance to access FedWorld, call 703-
487-4608.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jeanne Axtell or John McCutcheon, Top-
to-Bottom Review Coordinators, Food Safety and Inspection Service, 
USDA, Room 350-E Administration Building, Washington, DC, 20250; 
telephone (202) 720-3521 or (202) 720-2709, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: FSIS is announcing the availability of a 
preliminary report titled ``Top-to-Bottom Review.'' 1 Volume I is 
a comprehensive digest of the full report. It contains an introduction, 
summaries of the findings of all 10 review teams, and appendices. 
Volume II contains the findings of three teams that examined the 
Agency's regulatory roles of the future. Volume III contains the 
findings of three teams that examined the Agency's organizational 
structure. Volume IV contains the findings of the remaining four teams 
that addressed resource allocation; laboratory resources; supervisory 
and managerial roles; and employees' knowledge, skills, abilities and 
training.

    \1\ The report is available for review in the office of the FSIS 
Docket Clerk, Room 4352 South Agriculture Building, Washington, DC 
20250.
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    The following information provides context for the preliminary 
report.
    Administrator Michael R. Taylor announced early in 1995 that FSIS 
would look at itself ``from top to bottom'' and define for the future 
the Agency's regulatory roles, resource allocation, and organizational 
structure in a manner consistent with the goals and strategies of the 
proposed Pathogen Reduction/HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control 
Point) regulation. The resulting Top-to-Bottom Review is part of the 
Agency's overall initiative to improve the safety of meat and poultry 
products and better protect consumers.
    The intensive self-examination was prompted also by two other 
factors. First, the Federal deficit and the resulting pressure to 
reduce government spending mean that FSIS cannot expect significant 
increases in its funding in future years. Second, Federal agencies are 
under a presidential mandate to streamline headquarters and support 
functions and reduce the number of senior-level positions. It is thus 
critical to ensure that FSIS is making the best possible use of the 
resources it has to improve food safety and meet its other consumer 
protection responsibilities.
    The review has involved people from all parts of the Agency. A 
special effort was made to include as many field representatives as 
possible when the 10 working teams were formed.

Outreach Program

    An extensive outreach program was conducted for FSIS employees and 
constituents. Internal outreach activities were guided by the 
conviction that the Agency's employees should be kept fully informed 
about the review at every stage and that employees' suggestions should 
be solicited and considered throughout the course of the review.
    A three-day employee call-in was held June 12-14. About 250 
employees participated. An additional 131 sent in written suggestions, 
and about 20 more have used the review's electronic mailbox to submit 
their views. This feedback, which consisted of well over 1000 ideas, 
comments, and questions, was sorted by subject and provided to the 
review leaders and teams for consideration.
    Constituents received information about the review through a notice 
in the Federal Register June 20 and mentions in the FSIS Update, a 
weekly newsletter faxed to industry groups, consumer groups, and others 
who follow the Agency's activities. Briefings for industry and consumer 
representatives were held June 9, with the Administrator and review 
leaders presenting status reports and answering questions about the 
review. Briefings were also held for Congressional staffs.

Intent of the Report

    The preliminary report is the result of creative brainstorming by a 
diverse array of knowledgeable FSIS employees responding to the 
Administrator's call for bold options. It offers and analyzes a range 
of possible actions and is meant to serve as a basis for internal and 
external consideration and comment.
    The review leaders were concerned about the length of the report, 
which 

[[Page 47347]]
exceeds 600 pages. They considered consolidating and trimming some of 
the material, but decided instead to retain all of it and issue the 
preliminary report in the form of several volumes in order to give FSIS 
employes and constituents access to the entire body of work produced by 
each team. Those who do not want to receive and review the entire 
report can read Volume I, where they will find summaries of the 
complete versions of the teams' work as presented in Volumes II, III, 
and IV.
    Some topics are addressed more than once. This apparent duplication 
of effort is intentional. While different teams did examine some of the 
same issues, they did so independently, applying their own unique 
perspective and approach. These differing views will provide the 
Agency's management team with a full range of options to consider.
    The teams had just 10 weeks to gather the necessary information and 
discuss their conclusions. They would have liked more time to write up 
the results of the work, but the review leaders elected to issue the 
preliminary report on time as a ``work in progress'' rather than delay 
it for further development of the underlying analyses or refinement of 
the written components. The report serves its purpose of providing 
Agency management with a wide range of options. Further analysis will 
be conducted, as needed, before decisions are made.

Work of the 10 Review Teams

    The 10 teams that conducted the Top-to-Bottom Review are listed 
below with a brief and general characterization of their work.

FSIS Regulatory Roles (see Volume II of the Report)

1. Farm-to-Table (Outside the Plant)
    This team looked at strategies for ensuring that food safety 
programs are functioning throughout the non-plant levels of the farm-
to-table continuum. Possible FSIS roles were considered from the pre-
harvest animal production environment to the end point of preparation 
and consumption. At every point, the team found opportunities to reduce 
the likelihood of foodborne illness.
2. Inplant Regulatory Roles
    This team analyzed three representative types of plants 
(processing, poultry slaughter, and livestock slaughter) in order to 
identify the possible FSIS inspectional and regulatory roles in each 
type of operation, determine how FSIS resources are currently allocated 
within plants, identify potential gaps in the current inspection 
program's ability to deliver food safety assurances to the public, and 
suggest how the gaps might be filled. The team developed a range of 
options for conducting antemortem and postmortem inspection and HACCP 
validation and verification.
3. Separation of Industry and USDA Roles
    The team was charged with determining strategies and techniques to 
better define the distinct roles and responsibilities of FSIS and 
industry in ensuring food safety. It observed that the roles are 
presently commingled because USDA (FSIS) has assumed many management 
and consultant functions in the meat and poultry plants it regulates. 
The team identified 13 techniques for ``decoupling'' FSIS from the 
industry and ``decoupling'' inspection personnel from plants.

FSIS Structure (See Volume III)

4. Organizational Structure
    The team was charged with determining the optimal structure needed 
for headquarters and the field to carry out the goals and strategies of 
the proposed Pathogen Reduction/HACCP regulation, taking into account 
the streamlining goals of the Administration and the reinvention 
objectives outlined in the National Performance Review. The team 
developed a model for a new, highly integrated organizational structure 
for FSIS. It considered several ways of streamlining the supervision 
and management of the field regulatory programs.
5. Field and Headquarters Support Services
    This team was asked to determine what support activities are best 
performed in the field and at headquarters. It suggested numerous ways 
of modifying the existing structure so that streamlining goals can be 
met and some of the resources now used for support services can be 
shifted to new food safety initiatives such as HACCP. The team's 
approach included looking at ways to combine the regional and area 
office functions to eliminate duplication of services and reduce 
support staffing.
6. Policy and Regulation Development
    The purpose of this team was to examine how policy and regulation 
development activities can be better managed within the Agency.

FSIS Resource Allocation and Other Administrative Subjects (See Volume 
IV)

7. Optimal Resource Allocation
    This team's assignment was to determine the optimal balance between 
resources allocated to health and safety activities and those allocated 
to economic adulteration, labeling, and misbranding activities. It 
looked at how FSIS can allocate resources flexibly, with inspectors' 
assignments scheduled according to the risk presented by certain 
plants, products, or processes. Several options were considered for 
implementing a new resource allocation system.
8. Allocation of Laboratory Resources
    The team was charged with determining what level of laboratory 
activities is necessary for regulatory oversight of industry operations 
and determining what testing should fall to FSIS and what should be 
industry's responsibility. Options were developed for using the FSIS 
laboratories to support HACCP and other Agency programs.
9. Supervision and Management Roles and Responsibilities
    This team was asked to determine the nature of future supervisory 
and managerial responsibilities and examine better methods for 
delivering technical information. It called for analyzing supervisory 
and managerial jobs to determine actual knowledge, skills, and 
abilities (KSA's) required to perform successfully in FSIS and 
designing programs to provide supervisors and managers with the 
necessary level of knowledge and skill in HACCP and pathogen reduction 
topics.
10. Knowledge, Skills, Abilities and Training
    This team looked at the KSA's and training that will be necessary 
to carry out the Agency's future roles along the farm-to-table 
continuum. It did not, however, address short-term HACCP training for 
FSIS employees. Another Agency project is addressing the short-term 
training needs for HACCP-based inspection.

Comments Sought

    Through October 31, FSIS welcomes comments on the preliminary 
report. The Agency is particularly interested in receiving comments on 
Volume II: FSIS Regulatory Roles. The topics addressed there directly 
affect how the Agency deals with the public, and they relate to 
implementation of the proposed Pathogen Reduction/HACCP regulation. 

[[Page 47348]]

    Volumes III and IV address internal administrative matters 
primarily related to organizational structure and resource allocation. 
Because of budgetary pressures and the mandate to streamline its 
structure, FSIS is moving immediately to examine and further evaluate 
these administrative portions of the preliminary report.

    Done at Washington, DC, on September 6, 1995.
Michael R. Taylor,
Acting Under Secretary for Food Safety.
[FR Doc. 95-22633 Filed 9-7-95; 2:53 pm]
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