The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA’s FSIS) recently posted its fiscal year (FY) 2024 Public Health Regulations (PHR) report. The report covers how FSIS determines PHRs and their thresholds. The FY 2024 PHRs and their thresholds will go into effect October 2023.
Public Health Regulations (PHRs) are verified regulations with statistically higher individual noncompliance rates in establishments in the three months prior to a microbiological positive or a public health-related enforcement action than in establishments with no positives or enforcement actions. This statistical association does not inherently imply that a particular regulation constitutes a more serious food safety concern, rather, it provides a statistical association to help FSIS better align scheduling criteria and agency resources. PHRs are not the only important food safety and public health related regulations, as noncompliance with other regulations remain critical indicators of public health concern but may not be statistically associated with PHR criteria.