[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 169 (Friday, August 30, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55772-55773]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-22189]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Food Safety and Inspection Service

[Docket No. 02-033N]


Technical Conference on Foreign Material Contaminants, 
Prerequisite Programs, and Validation

AGENCY: Food Safety and Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of public meeting; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is announcing 
that it will hold a one-and-a-half-day technical conference on 
September 24 and 25, 2002, on foreign material contaminants, 
prerequisite programs, and validation to discuss issues related to 
these topics.

DATES: The public meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, September 24, and 
Wednesday, September 25, 2002. The meeting will be held from 8 a.m. to 
approximately 5 p.m. the first day and from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. the second 
day.

ADDRESSES: The public meeting will be held at the Double Tree Inn, 1616 
Dodge Street, Omaha, Nebraska; telephone (402) 346-7600. A tentative 
agenda is available in the FSIS Docket Room and on the FSIS Web site at 
http://www.fsis.usda.gov. FSIS welcomes comments on the topics to be 
discussed at the public meeting. Please send an original and two copies 
of comments to the FSIS Docket Room, Docket 02-033N, U.S. 
Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service, Room 102 
Cotton Annex, 300 12th Street, SW., Washington, DC 20250-3700. All 
comments and the official transcript of the meeting, when they become 
available, will be kept in the FSIS Docket Room at the address provided 
above.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Charles L. Gioglio at (202) 205-0256. 
Registration for the meeting will be on-site. Persons requiring a sign 
language

[[Page 55773]]

interpreter or other special accommodations should notify Ms. Sheila 
Johnson as soon as possible at (202) 690-6498.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    FSIS administers the Federal Meat Inspection Act, the Poultry 
Products Inspection Act, and the Egg Products Inspection Act. The 
Agency's activities are intended to prevent the distribution in 
domestic and foreign commerce, as human food, of unwholesome, 
adulterated, or misbranded meat, poultry, and egg products, including 
products that may transmit diseases or that may be otherwise injurious 
to health.
    Throughout the 1990's, the Agency's most important goal was an 
improved food safety inspection system, exemplified by the Pathogen 
Reduction and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (PR/HACCP) 
regulations that are now fully implemented. Although a primary goal of 
the PR/HACCP rule was to eliminate, reduce, and prevent the presence of 
pathogens, the HACCP regulations also address physical hazards. 
Recently, there have been questions raised on how foreign materials 
need to be addressed in the HACCP environment. Therefore, to address 
such concerns, FSIS is holding this technical conference.

Public Meeting

    At the meeting, the Agency will describe, and invite discussion and 
comment on, circumstances and instances of contamination; the different 
types of foreign material contamination; health and safety risk 
aspects; current state of detection and removal; verification; 
validation; Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP); 
critical control points and critical limits in relation to foreign 
materials; and the role of prerequisite programs.
    The Agency will present its current thinking on controlling foreign 
material contaminants through HACCP, Standard Sanitation Operating 
Procedures (Sanitation SOPs), and prerequisite programs. Discussion 
panels of food safety experts will review the current state of foreign 
material contaminant detection, removal, and verification. The Agency 
intends to seek information from academia, industry sources, and 
consumers on the best ways to identify such potential hazards and to 
provide a forum for discussion on how best to control them. The Agency 
will open the discussion to include, and solicit comment from, the 
attendees.

Additional Public Notification

    Public awareness of all segments of rulemaking and policy 
development is important. Consequently, in an effort to better ensure 
that minorities, women, and persons with disabilities are aware of this 
public meeting notice, FSIS will announce it and make copies of this 
Federal Register publication available through the FSIS Constituent 
Update. FSIS provides a weekly FSIS Constituent Update, which is 
communicated via Listserv, a free e-mail subscription service. In 
addition, the update is available on-line through the FSIS Web site 
located at http://www.fsis.usda.gov. The update is used to provide 
information regarding FSIS policies, procedures, regulations, FSIS 
public meetings, recalls, Federal Register notices, and any other types 
of information that could affect or would be of interest to our 
constituents/stakeholders. The constituent Listserv 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 the Listserv and web page, 
FSIS is able to provide information to a much broader, more diverse 
audience.
    For more information contact the Congressional and Public Affairs 
Office, at (202) 720-9113. To be added to the free e-mail subscription 
service (Listserv), go to the ``Constituent Update'' page on the FSIS 
Web site at http://www.fsis.usda.gov/oa/update/htm.
    Click on the ``Subscribe to the Constituent Update Listserv'' link, 
then fill out and submit the form.

    Done at Washington, DC on August 27, 2002.
William J. Hudnall,
Acting Administrator.
[FR Doc. 02-22189 Filed 8-29-02; 8:45 am]
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