Until a few years ago, there were still a number of federal meat establishments that had not yet experienced a comprehensive Food Safety Assessment (FSA). Today, the numbers are dwindling as the Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) is now far more aggressive in performing both “routine” and “for cause” FSAs.
FSIS uses the FSA process, which typically lasts a few weeks, to determine whether a meat harvest or processing establishment is meeting basic federal food-safety requirements. During this process, numerous FSIS officers will inspect, observe and also scrutinize almost every aspect of a facility’s food-safety programs, record-keeping systems and overall operations.