Source: Michael Fielding, MEATINGPLACE, 12/14/15


USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is requiring that all processors of raw ground beef products, including retailers, maintain “adequate records of the source material” to allow the agency to work quickly with suppliers during a recall.
The agency announced the rule Monday.

The new requirement complements expedited trace-back and trace-forward procedures announced in August 2014 that enhance the agency’s ability to quickly and broadly investigate food safety breakdowns in the event of an outbreak connected to ground beef.

Under the new final rule, FSIS is amending its recordkeeping regulations to require that all official establishments and retail stores that grind raw beef products maintain the following records:

• The establishment numbers of facilities supplying material used to prepare each lot of raw ground beef product;
• All supplier lot numbers and production dates;
• The names of the supplied materials, including beef components and any materials carried over from one production lot to the next;
• The date and time each lot of raw ground beef product is produced; and
• The date and time when grinding equipment and other related food-contact surfaces are cleaned and sanitized.

The requirements also apply to raw beef products that are ground at an individual customer’s request when new source materials are used.

“In the event that unsafe product does make it into commerce, these new procedures will give us the information we need to act much more effectively to keep families across the country safe,” Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety Al Almanza said in a news release.

A 2011 salmonella outbreak in Maine and parts of the Northeast resulted in illnesses that may have been prevented if establishments had kept records of suppliers on file. As a result of the outbreak, FSIS in July 2014 published the proposed rule (79 FR 42464) to require official establishments and retail stores to maintain records of their suppliers and source materials received. After receiving and considering comments, FSIS announced this final recordkeeping rule.

Since 2011, the agency has announced two dozen pathogen-related ground beef recalls resulting in more than 3 million pounds of product recalled.

The final rule may be viewed here.