WASHINGTON – The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) on Monday issued new directives on the recall of meat and poultry products and how to conduct food-borne illness investigations.

The agency said that Directive 8080. 1, Revision 5 provides information on the terms, responsibilities and public notification procedures in voluntary recalls of FSIS-inspected products.

The revised directive does the following:

• clarifies the various levels of distribution that represent the depth of a recall;

• clarifies the responsibilities of each FSIS program area;

• changes the office responsible for coordinating field activities for recalls of imported products; from Office of Program Evaluation (OPE), Enforcement and Review to the Office of International Affairs (OIA);

• clarifies the procedures of the Recall Committee;

• introduces public health alerts;

• changes the term “Press Release” to “Recall Release;”

• describes considerations for public notification and verification for recalls conducted at the wholesale level;

• provides for a quarterly post-recall assessment report;

• updates Attachment 1 to include recall nomenclature and examples of Recall Releases;

• updates Attachment 2 to clarify the considerations for determining the classification of a recall involving an undeclared ingredient;

• updates Attachment 3 to provide specific details for the OIA review related to effectiveness checks.

The FSIS also said that it had issued Directive 8080.3, which instructs personnel from the agency, Office of Public Health Science on the procedures they are to follow when investigating foodborne illnesses potentially associated with FSIS-regulated meat, poultry, or processed egg products.

The directive also instructs personnel from the OPE, and Enforcement Review, the Office of Field Operations, and the OIA on the actions they are to take when assisting with an FSIS foodborne illness investigation.

This directive supplements procedures of the Consumer Complaint Monitoring System as specified in Directive 5610.1.

The full text of the recall directive can be found at www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/rdad/FSISDirectives/8080.1Rev5.pdf. The text for food-borne illnesses is at www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/rdad/FSISDirectives/8080.3.pdf.

Source: American Meat Institute