Issue View | Council I | 2016 Biennial Meeting

This is a brand new Issue.

Addition of new Food Code section: Grinding Logs

This proposal requests the addition of a requirement for retail food establishments to comply with regulations issued by the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) that require certain retail food establishments that grind raw beef products to maintain records of the source for the materials they use, date and time the beef was ground, and date and time when grinding equipment was cleaned and sanitized. At the retail level, state and local governments provide for regulatory oversight and enforcement. The purpose of this proposal is to provide in the 2013 FDA Food Code a requirement for retail food establishments to comply with 9 CFR (Code of Federal Regulations) 320.

The Food Code recognizes that consumers are at risk of foodborne illness from undercooked or improperly cooked meat items, particularly ground beef. Some retail food establishments may grind intact beef to produce ground beef "in house". While this practice is lawful, it may present an increased risk of foodborne illness to consumers because grinding intact beef "in house" may spread pathogenic contamination from the exterior of an intact product throughout the resulting ground beef, or, may serve as a source of cross-contamination of grinding equipment. Further, consumers may mistakenly believe that ground beef produced "in house" in this way is fresher or safer, and thus may undercook such products, which is insufficient to kill pathogens.

FSIS in promulgating the rule on "Records To Be Kept by Official Establishments and Retail Stores That Grind Raw Beef Products" has recognized that when illnesses occur, it is necessary to have complete records for purposes of tracing the contaminated product to its source. The Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO) requested FSIS to submit the rule to the Conference for Food Protection for adoption into the Food Code to address issues of oversight and enforcement.

It would thus serve public health for the Conference to act on AFDO's recommendation.

that a letter be sent to the FDA requesting the 2013 Food Code be amended with the addition of the following language to the appropriate section or paragraph of Part 3-2, Sources, Specifications, and Original Containers and Records (language to be added is underlined):

Grinding Log.

As required under 9 CFR 230, a grinding log shall be maintained for any beef products that are ground on the premises of a food establishment, and such log shall be open and available for inspection upon request of a duly authorized inspector.