Source: Lisa M. Keefe, MEATINGPLACE, 12/11/13

The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service issued a notice to its inspectors clarifying the products that are to be sampled as beef manufacturing trimmings and bench trim under the MT60 and MT55 programs, and when those samples are collected.

The notice also reminds inspectors to make sure that the establishment’s profile information in the Public Health Information System (PHIS) is accurate, so that each plant is sampled at the right time for the right program.

The notice closes a gap in its trim sampling program pointed out by the Office of the Inspector General in a report issued in 2012.

The notice has an implementation date of Dec. 24.

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