991078 USDA Rolls Out New Meat/Poultry Sanitation RuleOctober 26, 1999Washington - USDA said it would shift from telling U.S. meat and poultry plants exactly what they must do to keep equipment clean, to a new approach in which companies develop their own sanitary plans. The new regulations aim to update basic sanitation regulations by dropping outdated rules, streamlining others, and setting performance standards for cleanliness that each plant must meet. The change also means that federal meat and poultry inspectors will have more time to monitor plants and make sure they are meeting the new performance standards. “It clearly makes a distinction between the responsibility of the plant and the responsibility of the agency,” Tom Billy, head of the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service, said. “It opens the opportunity for plants to innovate and try different approaches.” The new regulation becomes effective on January 25, 2000. It also gives plants the option of continuing to use existing sanitation procedures, a concession to small plants for whom changes might be prohibitively expensive. The regulation is in line with a series of food safety and inspection changes at meat and poultry plants that USDA has rolled out during the past two years. FSIS officials have repeatedly said they want shift to a science-based system, where plants can develop their own ways to meet certain key performance standards rather than complying with detailed and elaborate rules issued by the USDA over the past few decades. For example, under the old regulations knives used on diseased meat carcasses had to be cleaned with 180-degree water or a specific sanitizer approved by the FSIS. With the new regime, companies are required only to “maintain equipment in a sanitary condition”, which allows them to use innovative new methods, the USDA said.
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