Two more petitions filed with FSIS

The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service has recognized and assigned two more petitions for review.

The first came in on April 9, 2024 and requests that FSIS amend all policies and regulations that limit the amount of cheek meat allowed in certain beef products to allow unlimited amounts of cheek meat in these products.

North Star Imported’s first petition states that cheek meat can be identified as “beef” in the ingredient statement on product labels.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has received the petition dated April 9, 2024, filed on behalf of North Star Imports.

The petition requests that FSIS amend all policies and regulations that limit the amount of cheek meat allowed in certain beef products to allow unlimited amounts of cheek meat in these products.

The petition also requests that FSIS amend the regulations to provide that cheek meat can be identified as “beef” in the ingredient statement on product labels.

The request will be considered a petition for rulemaking under the Administrative Procedure Act (5 USC 553(e)), the USDA Administrative Regulations (7 CFR 1.28), and the FSIS Rules on Petitions (9 CFR part 392). The petition has been referred to the Office of Policy and Program Development for review and has been assigned petition number 24-02.

As provided in 9 CFR 392.6, the petition will be made available to the public in the FSIS docket room and posted on the FSIS website.

The FSIS also received a petition filed on behalf of the Meat Import Council of America (MICA) dated March 15, 2024.

The petition requests that FSIS amend its import inspection rules to expand the current re-inspection and verification policy for meat, poultry and egg products imported from Canada to products imported from other countries.

The petition specifically requests that FSIS change the regulations to allow countries, in addition to Canada, alternative options to comply with the requirement that the outer containers of all products shipped from abroad be marked with the official inspection legend.

The petition also requests that FSIS amend FSIS Directive 9900.1 to allow re-inspection of products from other countries at the “rear of the open conveyance” when it is “placed in the rear of the unloading dock at the import inspection facility” if the the type of inspection is “certification and label verification only”. The request will be considered a petition for rulemaking under the Administrative Procedure Act (5 USC 553(e)), the USDA Administrative Regulations (7 CFR 1.28), and the FSIS Rules on Petitions (9 CFR part 392). Your petition has been referred to the

The Office of Policy and Program Development for review has been assigned petition number 24-02. As provided in 9 CFR 392.6, the petition will be available on the FSIS website.

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