[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 86 (Friday, May 5, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 21187-21188]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-09141]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

[Docket No. APHIS-2016-0103]


Notice of Determination; Changes to the National Poultry 
Improvement Plan Program Standards

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: We are updating the National Poultry Improvement Plan (NPIP) 
Program Standards document. In a previous notice, we made available to 
the public for review and comment proposed changes to the NPIP Program 
Standards document to establish new biosecurity principles, amend 
testing procedures for Mycoplasma, clarify laboratory procedures for 
Salmonella, add new diagnostic tests for Mycoplasma and Salmonella, and 
reduce confusion between references to the regulations and the Program 
Standards.

DATES: Effective July 5, 2017.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Denise Brinson, DVM, Senior 
Coordinator, National Poultry Improvement Plan, VS, APHIS, USDA, 1506 
Klondike Road, Suite 101, Conyers, GA 30094-5104; (770) 922-3496.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The regulations in 9 CFR parts 145, 146, and 
147 (referred to below as the regulations) contain the provisions of 
the National Poultry Improvement Plan (NPIP), a cooperative Federal-
State-Industry mechanism for controlling certain poultry diseases. The 
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) of the U.S. 
Department of Agriculture amends these provisions from time to time to 
incorporate new scientific information and technologies within the 
Plan.
    In Sec.  147.53, paragraph (b) states that approved tests and 
sanitation procedures used to qualify flocks for NPIP classifications 
are set out in the NPIP Program Standards.\1\ In that section, 
paragraphs (d) and (e) set out the process for adding or revising tests 
or sanitation procedures. Paragraph (e)(1) states that APHIS will 
publish a notice in the Federal Register making the test or sanitation 
procedure available for public comment. Paragraph (e)(2)(i) states 
that, at the end of the comment period, the test or sanitation 
procedure will be added to the NPIP Program Standards, or the NPIP 
Program Standards will be updated to reflect changes to an existing 
test or sanitation procedure, if:
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    \1\ The Program Standards may be viewed on the NPIP Web site at 
http://www.poultryimprovement.org/documents/ProgramStandardsAugust2014.pdf, or by writing to the Service at 
National Poultry Improvement Plan, APHIS, USDA, 1506 Klondike Road, 
Suite 101, Conyers, GA 30094.
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     No comments were received on the notice;
     The comments on the notice supported the action described 
in the notice; or
     The comments on the notice were evaluated but did not 
change the Administrator's determination that approval of the test or 
sanitation procedure is appropriate based on the standards in paragraph 
(a) of Sec.  147.53.
    On February 13, 2017, we published a notice \2\ in the Federal 
Register (82 FR 10452-10453, Docket No. APHIS-2016-0103) advising the 
public that we had prepared updates to the NPIP Program Standards 
document. The proposed updates would amend the Program Standards by 
establishing new standards for biosecurity principles. They also would 
amend the hemagglutination inhibition test procedures for Mycoplasma, 
clarify the laboratory procedure recommended for the bacteriological 
examination of Salmonella in birds, amend the laboratory procedure 
recommended for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests for Mycoplasma 
gallisepticum and M. synoviae, and add new diagnostic tests for 
Mycoplasma and Salmonella. Finally, we noted that the Program Standards 
are currently divided into subparts in the same way the regulations 
are. Therefore, we proposed to change the use of the word ``Subpart'' 
to ``Standard'' in the Program Standards for ease of distinguishing 
between references to the regulations and references to the Program 
Standards.
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    \2\ To view the notice, go to http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=APHIS-2016-0103.
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    We solicited comments on the notice for 30 days ending on March 15, 
2017. We did not receive any comments by that date.
    Therefore, in accordance with our regulations in Sec.  
147.53(e)(2)(i)(A), we are revising the NPIP Program Standards as 
described in our previous notice. We are also making a minor change to 
the NPIP Program Standards document due to a change in company 
ownership of one of the approved diagnostic test kits. The diagnostic 
test kit is the Bax[supreg] PCR assays for Salmonella 1 and 2, which 
was previously owned by Dupont Qualicon. The test kit is now owned by

[[Page 21188]]

Qualicon Diagnostics LLC, a Hygiena Company.

    Authority: 7 U.S.C. 8301-8317; 7 CFR 2.22, 2.80, and 371.4.

    Done in Washington, DC, this 1st day of May 2017.
Michael C. Gregoire,
Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 2017-09141 Filed 5-4-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3410-34-P