Constituent Update – February 2, 2024

FSIS Highlights 2023 Accomplishments in Protecting Public Health and Strengthening the Food Supply Chain

On January 31, FSIS announced its key achievements in 2023 that protected public health through food safety and strengthened the food supply chain.

“USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service is focused on protecting the American public, and in 2023, we continued to advance initiatives toward this goal, including by empowering small establishments in producing safe food and meeting consumer expectations on labeling claims,” said USDA Under Secretary for Food Safety Emilio Esteban. “As we reflect on the accomplishments of the past year, we remain committed to preventing foodborne illness, ensuring the safety of the nation’s food supply, and strengthening the food supply chain.”

FSIS to Update Establishment-specific Laboratory Sampling Datasets

FSIS plans to update the establishment-specific laboratory sampling datasets to account for recent changes at FSIS replacing phenotypic antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) with predicted antimicrobial resistance using whole genome sequencing (WGS) for most non-cecal samples to determine antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

FSIS will make two updates to the establishment-specific datasets that currently contain fields for AMR results. The first update adds an “AST” suffix to the existing predicted AMR variable title to distinguish the results from the WGS predicted profiles. For example, SalmonellaAMRProfile will be changed to SalmonellaAMRProfileAST. The second update adds new variables to represent the WGS predicted AMR profile variables. The new variables will have a suffix of WGS, for example, SalmonellaAMRProfileWGS and O26AMRProfileWGS.

Prior to publishing the updated datasets, FSIS is seeking comments on a sample dataset and data documentation until March 15, 2024. While the provided sample is for the Raw Beef Sampling dataset, these changes will be applied to all establishment-specific laboratory sampling datasets containing AMR results. To comment, visit Regulations.gov and follow the online instructions for submitting comments to Docket FSIS-2014-0032 for the sample dataset and documentation. Please note that Regulations.gov does not support CSV files, however CSV versions are accessible on the FSIS website.

Establishments can access the data through the “Industry Sampling Results for Primary Establishment Number Detailed” report within the Public Health Information System (PHIS).

FSIS plans to release the new datasets on the routine scheduled date of April 5, 2024. Subsequent postings will follow the regular posting schedule for establishment-specific datasets. New datasets are released the first Friday of the next quarter with a quarter lag, meaning data for FY2024 Q2 (i.e., January, February, March 2024) are planned to be released July 5, 2024, data for FY2024 Q3 (i.e., April, May, June 2024) are planned to be released October 4, 2024, and so forth.

Available for Public Comment

FSIS seeks public comments on proposed rules and notices, which are viewable on the FSIS Federal Register & Rulemaking webpage. FSIS is currently seeking comments on the following:

Policy Update

FSIS notices and directives on public health and regulatory issues are available on the FSIS Policy webpage. The following policy update was recently issued:

FSIS Notice 06-24 – Reissue of FSIS Sampling for Labeling Claims Verification

FSIS Directive 6400.1 – Harvesting, Handling and Labeling of Detached Fowl Ova for Human Food Purposes – Revision 1

Export Requirements Update

The Library of Export Requirements has been updated for products for the following:

  • Costa Rica
  • Peru
  • Cayman Islands
  • Colombia
  • Guatemala
  • South Africa
  • Namibia
  • Jordan
  • European Union
  • Canada
  • Azerbaijan
  • Pakistan
  • Seychelles
  • Japan
  • Hong Kong
  • Tunisia
  • Iceland
  • Jamaica
  • Solomon Islands
  • Cuba
  • Mexico
  • Taiwan
  • New Zealand
  • Dominican Republic
  • Chile
  • Turks & Caicos

Complete information can be found at the FSIS Import & Export Library.