On Feb. 1, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS or agency) published in the Federal Register a proposed rule that outlines the intent of the agency to modernize swine slaughter inspection. The proposed rule, if finalized, would amend federal meat inspection regulations to create a new inspection system for market hog slaughter establishments as well as changing certain regulatory requirements for all official swine slaughter establishments, regardless of inspection system.
The proposed New Swine Slaughter Inspection System (NSIS), which was informed by the agency’s experiences under the HACCP-Based Inspection Models Project (HIMP), intends to provide public health protection equivalent to the current inspection system. Establishments will be given the option of operating under the proposed new inspection system or remain under the existing inspection system (“traditional inspection”). Key elements of NSIS include: