[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 229 (Tuesday, November 28, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 70921-70922]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-30449]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Food and Drug Administration


Food Safety Risk Analysis Clearinghouse; Data Quality Objectives; 
Public Meeting

AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS.

ACTION: Notice of public meeting.

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SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is announcing a public 
meeting cosponsored by the interagency Risk Assessment Consortium (RAC) 
and the Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (JIFSAN). 
The purpose of this public meeting is to encourage discussion and gain 
input from the public and professionals on data quality issues as they 
relate to the Food Safety Risk Analysis Clearinghouse (Clearinghouse).
    Date and Time: The public meeting will be held on December 5, 2000, 
6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
    Location: The public meeting will be held at the Marriott Crystal 
Gateway Hotel, Grand Ballroom Salons F and G, 1700 Jefferson Davis 
Hwy., Arlington, VA 22202.
    Contact: Wesley R. Long, Center for Food Safety and Applied 
Nutrition (HFS-6), Food and Drug Administration, 200 C St. SW., 
Washington, DC 20204, 202-205-4024, FAX 301-935-0149, or email: 
[email protected].
    Registration: None required.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Risk assessment generally characterizes the 
nature and magnitude of the risks associated with hazards to human 
health. A risk assessment provides an opportunity to organize 
scientific information and helps to clarify the necessary assumptions 
and degree of scientific certainty of the data used in the risk 
assessment. Risk assessments require specific information on the hazard 
and on the exposed populations to provide meaningful information to 
public health officials; a risk assessment may be considered in the 
development of risk-management decisions. Although data quality 
objectives have been developed for assessments of chemical risk, 
quality objectives for data addressing foodborne microbial pathogens 
are far less developed.
    RAC, which includes members from Federal agencies that have 
responsibilities for food safety risk analysis, was established under 
the President's Food Safety Initiative to advance the science of food 
safety risk assessment and to assist agencies in fulfilling their 
specific food safety regulatory mandates. The RAC also advises the 
Clearinghouse, an Internet based resource of food safety risk data and 
risk assessments.
    The Clearinghouse has been developed by JIFSAN, which is a major 
component of the FDA food safety program's integration with academic 
institutions to create intellectual partnerships. JIFSAN includes 
research and outreach components from the Center for Food Safety and 
Applied Nutrition, the Center for Veterinary Medicine, the University 
of Maryland (UMD), the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary 
Medicine at UMD, and others. JIFSAN provides a neutral environment in 
which experts from industry, consumer and trade groups, international 
organizations, government, and academia can pool their resources and 
ideas to provide the scientific base for the development of sound 
public health policy.
    Consistent with the goals of RAC and JIFSAN, an open public meeting 
will be held on data quality issues. The RAC and JIFSAN are seeking 
input to further the ability of the Clearinghouse to serve as a 
reliable data resource for use by researchers, industry, and 
international, Federal and State agencies. The main topic at this 
meeting will be data quality for microbiological and antimicrobial risk 
analyses. The draft agenda includes brief presentations on the RAC and 
the Clearinghouse followed by speakers from the Society of Risk 
Analysis (SRA) and international organizations. Public comment and 
discussion will follow the presentations.
    This public meeting is being held in conjunction with the annual 
SRA meeting to leverage access by the RAC to an audience of risk 
analysis professionals. The meeting is also open to the public, and 
opportunity for public comment will be provided.
    More information about the meeting site is available on the 
Internet at http://www.sra.org. The meeting agenda and summary will be 
posted at http://www.foodriskclearinghouse.umd.edu. The agenda posted 
on this Internet site will identify the specific time set aside for 
public comment.


[[Page 70922]]


    Dated: November 22, 2000.
Margaret M. Dotzel,
Associate Commissioner for Policy.
[FR Doc. 00-30449 Filed 11-24-00; 2:36 pm]
BILLING CODE 4160-01-F