[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 198 (Thursday, October 14, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55694-55695]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-26733]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Food Safety and Inspection Service
[Docket No. 99-041N]


Exemption of Retail Store Operations From Inspection Requirements

AGENCY: Food Safety and Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is publishing 
this notice to advise interested persons of a change in the application 
of the requirements for inspection under the Federal Meat Inspection 
Act (FMIA) and the Poultry Products Inspection Act (PPIA). The United 
States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit recently 
decided that retail stores exempt from federal inspection requirements 
do not become subject to those requirements when they supply their own 
kiosks with cooked hams and cooked turkeys that the retail stores have 
sliced, glazed, and packaged. As a result, inspection under the FMIA or 
the PPIA is not required if an otherwise exempt retail store transports 
products such as these to additional locations before it sells them to 
consumers.
    FSIS is reviewing its regulations on the exemption of retail 
operations from requirements for inspection under the FMIA and the 
PPIA. After completing this review, the Agency intends to initiate 
notice-and-comment rulemaking on the application of these requirements 
and on the handling conditions necessary to ensure that products 
delivered to consumers are not adulterated or misbranded.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Philip Derfler, Deputy Administrator, 
Office of Policy, Program Development and Evaluation, Food Safety and 
Inspection Service, Washington, DC 20250-3700; (202) 720-2710.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Food Safety and Inspection Service 
(FSIS) administers a regulatory program under the Federal Meat 
Inspection Act (FMIA) (21 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) and the Poultry Products 
Inspection Act (PPIA) (21 U.S.C. 451 et seq.) to protect the health and 
welfare of consumers by preventing the distribution of products that 
are unwholesome, adulterated, or misbranded. Both the FMIA and the PPIA 
include requirements for federal inspection, and they prohibit selling 
or transporting, offering for sale or transportation, or receiving for 
transportation, in commerce, products that are adulterated or 
misbranded and products required to be inspected unless they have been 
inspected and passed (21 U.S.C. 458(a)(2) and 610(c)). Intrastate 
operations and transactions are effectively subject to the same 
requirements and prohibitions, pursuant to a State inspection program 
or designation for federal inspection (21 U.S.C. 454(c)(1) and 
661(c)(1)).
    In The Original Honey Baked Ham Company of Georgia, Inc. v. 
Glickman, et al., 172 F.3d 885, 886 (D.C. Cir. 1999), the United States 
Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit decided that 
Honey Baked Ham retail stores that are exempt from federal inspection 
requirements do not become subject to those requirements when they 
supply their own temporary kiosks (booths with refrigeration units) 
with cooked hams and cooked turkeys that the retail stores have sliced, 
glazed, and packaged. According to the Court of Appeals:

    * * * That the company's retail stores supply temporary kiosks 
during holiday seasons does not * * * transform them into ``hybrid 
retail/wholesale'' establishments to which the federal inspection 
requirements apply. A wholesaler does not sell to the ultimate 
consumer; a wholesaler is a middleman who sells to a retailer. To 
the extent that Honey Baked Ham's retail stores supply the company's 
kiosks, they still do not fit within the category of 
``wholesalers.'' The stores do not sell their products to the 
kiosks; the kiosks are simply an extension of the stores' retail 
operations. According to the * * * Department's own regulations, the 
company's stores fit within the description of retail 
establishments, kiosks or not. Their operations, of the sort 
``traditionally and usually conducted at retail stores,'' will not 
change when they supply kiosks. The stores glaze, slice and package 
products. See 9 CFR Secs. 303.1(d)(2)(i)(a), (c), (e), 
381.10(d)(2)(i). They sell to consumers only, not to retailers. See 
9 CFR Secs. 303.1(d)(2)(iii)(a), 381.10(d)(2)(iii)(a). They use meat 
and poultry products that are federally- or State-inspected and 
passed. See 9 CFR Secs. 303.1(d)(2)(iii)(c), 381.10(d)(2)(iii)(c). * 
* * [T]here is no indication that [Honey Baked] sales * * * will 
exceed normal retail quantities. See 9 CFR Secs. 303.1(d)(2)(ii), 
381.10(d)(2)(ii). Because the company's retail stores will not lose 
their retail character or become ``similar'' to wholesale 
establishments when the kiosk system is fully implemented, the 
stores are not required to submit to federal inspection.

172 F.3d at 889.
    Therefore, otherwise exempt retail store operations do not become 
subject to inspection requirements because a retail store transports 
products such as these to additional locations for sale to consumers. 
Retail stores that believe their operations have been subjected to 
federal inspection solely because they transport products to additional 
locations before sale may request that inspection be terminated. (The 
request should be directed to the district office for the district in 
which a store is located.) The Agency is informing State inspection 
program officials, as well as FSIS personnel, of this change.
    In addition, FSIS is reviewing its regulations on the exemption of 
retail operations from requirements for inspection under the FMIA or 
the PPIA. After completing this review, the Agency intends to initiate 
notice-and-comment rulemaking on the application of these requirements 
and on the handling conditions necessary to ensure that products 
delivered to consumers are not adulterated or misbranded. (See 21 
U.S.C. 454, 455, 463(a), 464, 603 through 606, 623, 624, and 661.)

Additional Public Notification

    Pursuant to Departmental Regulation 4300-4, ``Civil Rights Impact 
Analysis,'' dated September 22, 1993, FSIS has considered the potential 
civil rights impact of this notice on minorities, women, and persons 
with disabilities. FSIS anticipates that this notice will not have a 
negative or disproportionate impact on minorities, women, or persons 
with disabilities. However, notices generally are designed to provide 
information and public awareness of policy developments is important. 
Consequently, in an effort to better ensure that minorities, women, and 
persons with disabilities are aware of this notice, FSIS will announce 
the publication of this Federal Register notice in the FSIS Constituent 
Update.
    FSIS provides a weekly FSIS Constituent Update, which is 
communicated via fax to over 300 organizations and individuals. In 
addition, the update is available on line through the FSIS web page 
located at http://www.fsis.usda.gov. The web page is used to provide 
information regarding FSIS policies, procedures, regulations, Federal 
Register notices, FSIS public meetings, recalls, and any other types of 
information that could affect or would be of interest to our 
constituents/stakeholders. The constituent fax list consists of 
industry, trade, and farm groups, consumer interest groups, allied 
health professionals, scientific professionals, and other individuals 
that have requested to be included.
    Through these various channels, FSIS is able to provide information 
to a much broader, more diverse audience. For more information and to 
be added to the constituent fax list, fax your request to

[[Page 55695]]

the Congressional and Public Affairs Office, at (202) 720-5704.

    Done at Washington, DC, on: October 6, 1999.
Thomas J. Billy,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 99-26733 Filed 10-13-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-DM-P