is to conduct assessments of food safety sys- tems. They analyze HACCP components, SSOP components, and compare what is written in the HACCP and SSOP compo- nents with government regulations. They observe general sanitation such as ware- housing, pest control, and cleanup of the facilities. They review the supporting docu- mentation to determine compliance to the government regulations and if the decisions the company made are supportable. If deci- sions are not supportable, then it is consid- ered noncompliance. EIAOs write reports on what is observed regarding the design of the systems and what has been found to be noncompliant. A recom- mendation is made to the management with the FSIS district oce as to if an enforce- ment action is required. The report is writ- ten in a manner such that any decision made about an enforcement action is supportable by the regulations. EIAOs document letters, interview notes, decision memos regarding enforcement, and documents generated by consumer safety inspectors to build a case file that might result in suspending the opera- tions, withdrawal of inspection, or eventually closing the company. EIAOs respond to consumer complaints that are associated with federally inspected companies. On receipt of a complaint, it is entered into a consumer complaint moni- toring system for other agency personnel to review. If there are similar complaints with the same root cause, this pattern will be detected by those personnel, and—with the information of the product packaging—the root cause can be traced to the origin of the problem. EIAOs can be instructed to take pic- tures and collect samples and other evidence pertaining to the aected product. EIAOs respond to recalls of product gen- erated by the companies. EIAOs will visit these companies to be a liaison between the companies and FSIS personnel in Washing- ton, DC, to ensure that the companies are contacting and informing the consignees of the recall. Companies are to provide a list of those consignees with sucient infor- mation for EIAOs to check the consignees for recall eectiveness and to ensure that the aected product does not continue into commerce. Randomly selected consignees, visited or contacted via telephone, could reveal more consignees, so recall eective-
TABLE 1
Companies Regulated by the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS)
General Obligations of Slaughter and Fabrication Companies • Determine the 8 hours that are their official operating hours. Overtime worked by FSIS inspectors is paid by the companies to FSIS and these inspectors are paid time and a half. • Provide FSIS inspectors, by law, adequate offices and office furniture, access to telephones and online computer facilities, and functioning restrooms. • Provide proper facilities, equipment, products, and requested records for inspection activities. • Not hinder FSIS inspection activities in any way and follow directions from FSIS.
Slaughter Companies • Slaughter livestock, including domesticated mammals and domesticated birds.
• March 1, 2016: FSIS began inspection of siluriformes fish and fish products, which include fish commonly known as catfish. Siluriformes fish inspection follows the same regulations as meat inspection. • Mix products with other foods (e.g., pizza). • Make into anything from a raw retail cut to cooked soup, oils, or shortenings. To be inspected and labeled by FSIS inspectors, fabricated products must consist of at least 2% meat or poultry. Fabrication Companies • Process products after slaughter and before shipping to retail stores. It is important to note that retail stores are not inspected by FSIS. The tasks entailed in fabrication (called processing by FSIS inspectors) include: • Debone products and then cut into wholesale cuts (e.g., primals, subprimals) or grind. • Cut products into smaller cuts (e.g., steaks, chops, filets, ribs, drumsticks). • Grind, cook, or marinate products (e.g., for sausages).
The tasks entailed in slaughter include: • Unload livestock from livestock trucks to pens. • Corral livestock onto the slaughter floor. • Kill, exsanguinate, skin, and disembowel the livestock. • Trim carcasses and place into coolers. • Harvest and segregate offal products (e.g., viscera, head meat). For the purposes of this special report, meat means the edible flesh of domesticated mammals. Poultry means the edible flesh of domesticated birds.
of meat and poultry inspections. After 4 years, the name of the service was changed to FSIS. •1995: FSIS started inspection of facili- ties known as “breaker plants” that break shelled eggs for the manufacture of egg products. • July 25, 1996: FSIS published the Pathogen Reduction; Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) Systems federal rule to alert companies and inspectors of the upcoming HACCP requirements. •1998: FSIS was formally charged with enforcing HACCP requirements to iden- tify and prevent, eliminate, or reduce potential hazards. • January 27, 1997: Each inspected meat and poultry company was required to have written and implemented stan- dard sanitation operating procedures (SSOPs). SSOPs documented the plans of companies to prevent contamination of food and food contact surfaces before and during operations.
Current Responsibilities
Regulated Companies FSIS regulates companies that produce, at the wholesale and/or retail levels, meat and poul- try products sold to other companies. The regulated companies are slaughter compa- nies, fabrication companies, and companies that conduct both slaughter and fabrication activities. See Table 1 for general obliga- tions of slaughter and fabrication companies. Categories of FSIS personnel and their job descriptions are listed in Table 2.
Enforcement Investigation and Analysis Ocers
The primary responsibility of enforcement investigation and analysis ocers (EIAOs)
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