FSIS releases annual plans on microbiological and chemical residue sampling programs
Agency strengthens customer service for accessing data
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has released the Annual Sampling Program Plan and Residue Sampling Plans for fiscal year 2019 and its first 2018 Annual Catalog of FSIS Sampling Projects.
“The agency’s modernization and customer service efforts extend to all facets of our work, including an easy-to-use online catalog of sampling projects,” said Carmen Rottenberg, acting deputy under secretary for food safety. “FSIS is continuing to post an unprecedented amount of food safety data and related plans, which are important for our customer experience.”
The Annual Sampling Program Plan identifies changes planned for FY 2019 to FSIS’ various sampling programs and describes the agency’s overall strategy for directing its sampling resources. FSIS also published the FY 2019 Residue Sampling Plans, which provide information on the process of sampling meat, poultry and egg products for chemical compounds of public concern and data collection.
FSIS first released its “Food Safety and Inspection Service Microbiological and Residue Sampling Programs” report in December 2011, which identified all of FSIS’ sampling programs and discussed the statistical and policy basis for the programs. FSIS has released a new sampling plan for each subsequent fiscal year.
FSIS is also launching a new online Annual Catalog of FSIS Sampling Projects — a searchable list of sampling projects for meat, poultry and egg products. The catalog, which will include project names and codes, will inform the public of what type of sampling data are available through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). With this catalog, FSIS seeks to enhance the customer experience by strengthening the FOIA process related to these data.
The catalog, which will be updated annually, and the FY 2019 Annual Sampling Program Plan are available at https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/data-collection-and-reports/fsis-data-analysis-and-reporting/data-reporting/fsis-data-analysis-and-reporting#samplingprograms and the 2019 Residue Sampling Plans at https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/data-collection-and-reports/chemistry/blue-books/ct_index.
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