[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 62 (Wednesday, April 1, 1998)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 15739-15740]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-8432]
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Rules and Regulations
Federal Register
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Federal Register/Vol. 63, No. 62/Wednesday, April 1, 1998/Rules and
Regulations
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Food Safety and Inspection Service
9 CFR Part 417
[Docket No. 98-006N]
HACCP Plan Requirements and Meat and Poultry Product Processing
Categories; Policy Clarification
AGENCY: Food Safety and Inspection Service.
ACTION: Policy clarification.
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SUMMARY: The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is publishing
this document to clarify its policy in regard to HACCP (Hazard Analysis
and Critical Control Points) requirements for meat and poultry
establishments producing either multiple products that fall within a
single processing category or single products that pass through
multiple processing categories.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before June 1, 1998.
ADDRESSES: Submit one original and two copies of written comments to
FSIS Docket Clerk, Docket #98-006N, U.S. Department of Agriculture,
Food Safety and Inspection Service, Room 102, Cotton Annex, 300 12 St.,
SW, Washington, DC 20250-3700. All comments submitted in response to
this document will be available for public inspection in the Docket
Clerk's Office between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Patricia F. Stolfa, Assistant Deputy Administrator, Regulations and
Inspection Methods, Food Safety and Inspection Service, U.S. Department
of Agriculture (202) 205-0699.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On July 25, 1996, FSIS published a final rule establishing new
requirements intended to improve the safety of meat and poultry
products and facilitate the modernization of USDA's meat and poultry
inspection system (``Pathogen Reduction; Hazard Analysis and Critical
Control Point (HACCP) Systems''; 61 FR 38806). The final rule requires
all official meat and poultry establishments to implement HACCP, a
science-based process control system. Under the new regulations, all
official establishments are responsible for developing and implementing
HACCP plans incorporating the controls necessary and appropriate to
ensure that their meat or poultry products are safe.
HACCP is a flexible system that enables establishments to develop
and implement control systems customized to the nature and volume of
their production. Accordingly, FSIS has promulgated regulatory
requirements meant to provide meat and poultry establishments with the
maximum flexibility for developing and implementing HACCP plans. FSIS
is publishing this notice to clarify the regulatory requirements for
establishments that wish to develop and implement a single HACCP plan
for multiple, similar products or for a single product that passes
through multiple processing categories.
Under Sec. 417.2, paragraph (a) of the HACCP requirements, FSIS
requires meat and poultry establishments to conduct a hazard analysis
to determine what food safety hazards are reasonably likely to occur in
the production process and identify the preventive measures it can
apply to control those hazards. Whenever a hazard analysis reveals that
one or more food safety hazards are reasonably likely to occur, FSIS
requires that each establishment develop and implement a written HACCP
plan covering each product produced by that establishment. Further,
FSIS specifically requires that establishments develop HACCP plans for
products that fall into the following processing categories:
``(i) Slaughter--all species.
(ii) Raw product--ground.
(iii) Raw product--not ground.
(iv) Thermally processed--commercially sterile.
(v) Not heat treated--shelf stable.
(vi) Heat treated--shelf stable.
(vii) Fully cooked--not shelf stable.
(viii) Heat treated but not fully cooked--not shelf stable.
(ix) Product with secondary inhibitors--not shelf stable.
Section 417.2(b)(2) states ``A single HACCP plan may encompass
multiple products within a single processing category identified in
this paragraph, if the food safety hazards, critical control points
(CCP's), critical limits, and procedures required to be identified and
performed * * * are essentially the same, provided that any required
features of the plan that are unique to a specific product are clearly
delineated in the plan and are observed in practice.'' Many meat and
poultry establishments, especially processing establishments,
manufacture numerous products that have most of their processing steps
in common. Allowing a single HACCP plan for such products was intended
to simplify and improve both compliance and inspection.
For example, an establishment producing both ready-to-eat corned
beef and ready-to-eat roast beef could develop and implement a single
HACCP plan for both products. The HACCP plan would identify the common
CCP's and critical limits (cooking and cooling product in accordance
with time/temperature combinations predetermined by the establishment),
as well as any processing differences (the corned beef would undergo a
curing step). In this example, compliance with HACCP requirements is
simplified, and it is probably more efficient and cost-effective to
develop and implement a single HACCP plan for the two products than to
produce two separate plans. Inspection is also improved and simplified
because FSIS inspection personnel can more efficiently and effectively
review a single, unified HACCP plan.
In this document, FSIS also is clarifying that meat and poultry
establishments may develop a single HACCP plan for a single product
that passes through multiple processing categories. It is likely that
such HACCP plans would be developed and implemented, for the most part,
by establishments that both slaughter (category (i)) and process
(categories (ii) through (ix)) meat or poultry. For example, there are
numerous establishments that slaughter, grind, and package meat for
retail sale. There also are numerous establishments that slaughter, cut
up, and package poultry for retail sale. Many of these and similar
establishments probably will choose to develop and implement a single
HACCP
[[Page 15740]]
plan covering both slaughter and processing. Developing and
implementing a single HACCP plan for a single product often would be
more efficient and cost effective than producing two plans (one for
slaughter and one for processing). In many cases, FSIS inspection
personnel will be able to more efficiently and effectively review a
single HACCP plan that covers all of the processing (including
slaughter) within a meat or poultry establishment.
Done in Washington, DC: March 18, 1998.
Thomas J. Billy,
Administrator, Food Safety Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 98-8432 Filed 3-31-98; 8:45 am]
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