AAMP meets with FSIS on Appendix A & B and more

AAMP Executive Director Chris Young was in Washington D.C. on Tuesday, February 20th to meet with FSIS Acting administrator Paul Kiecker and members of his policy staff. Young was Joined by two representatives of the North American Meat Institute. There were several items discussed of importance to the industry surrounding policy and guidelines, but the main focus of the meeting was the Revised Appendix A&B.

Both associations expressed several concerns with the document including the science behind it, why FSIS felt the need to move away from the original guidance and how FSIS came up with the number of 500 samples in order to validate and verify any differing process. The outcome of the meeting is that FSIS is continuing to work on responding to the comments and is open to the industry providing scientific opposition to science they have based the new guidance on as well as working with industry as they finalize the document. FSIS also agreed to provide industry and inspection personnel with a notice to clarify that industry is able to use the original Appendix A&B while the revised guidance is being finalized. This is a win for us, as there will be a clear message going out to both industry and inspection.