NCC this week sent a letter to USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) requesting a 120-day extension to the comment period on the recently released Salmonella Framework for Raw Poultry Products and proposed determination. FSIS on Friday issued a response.
In a letter to FSIS, NCC noted, “The risk assessments alone will take months to analyze and provide constructive feedback on, in addition to the substantial amount of time that will be required to understand and seek clarification on the myriad of topics throughout the document.”
“While we appreciate the Agency’s interest in receiving comments on the over 1,000 pages of text and hundreds of thousands of data points included as ‘Supporting and Related Materials’ that were also published along with the proposed Framework, this task is insurmountable in a short sixty days,” the letter continued. “Further, given the significant and unclear changes that are being proposed, it is imperative that the regulated industry be provided with adequate time to provide meaningful input and receive answers to many complex questions.”
“It is imperative that the chicken industry – the industry most significantly impacted by the proposal – is afforded adequate time to provide meaningful comments,” the letter concluded.
FSIS notified NCC on Friday that it plans to announce a 30-day extension to the comment period on the Salmonella Framework. The announcement will be made in FSIS’s weekly Constituent Update.
