Because all NCC member companies will be significantly impacted by the Salmonella Framework for Raw Poultry Products and proposed determination and given the complexity and sheer length of the proposal, a sixty-day comment period is simply unworkable, and as such, NCC today officially requested a 120-day extension.
In a letter to USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), NCC noted that, “The risk assessments alone will take months to analyze and provide constructive feedback on, in addition to the substantial amount of time that will be required to understand and seek clarification on the myriad of topics throughout the document.”
The letter continued, “While we appreciate the Agency’s interest in receiving comments on the over 1,000 pages of text and hundreds of thousands of datapoints included as “Supporting and Related Materials” that were also published along with the proposed Framework, this task is insurmountable in a short sixty days. Further, given the significant and unclear changes that are being proposed, it is imperative that the regulated industry be provided with adequate time to provide meaningful input and receive answers to many complex questions.
“It is imperative that the chicken industry – the industry most significantly impacted by the proposal – is afforded adequate time to provide meaningful comments,” the letter concluded.
The full letter can be viewed by clicking here.
