PDF

Inspection program personnel (IPP) should discuss topics at the weekly meeting with establishment management that are pertinent to an establishment’s food safety system and that could affect public health. Accordingly, this directive stresses the importance of the weekly meetings and the need for those meetings to address any pertinent topics related to food safety. To assist IPP, this directive provides a general list of food safety related topics that they should consider discussing with the establishment during weekly meetings.
This directive is being reissued to include information related to conducting weekly meetings in establishments operating under the Public Health Inspection System (PHIS), to include as possible topics for discussion during the weekly meeting: 1) establishment pathogen test results and 2) issues of concern to establishments also under Food and Drug Administration (FDA) jurisdiction; to update information links and modify Section VII regarding the preparation of the Memorandum of Interview (MOI); and to add a section addressing Supervisory responsibilities.

This directive provides instructions to inspection program personnel (IPP) on how to verify whether official establishments are maintaining required records concerning suppliers and source materials for raw beef ground at the establishment.

The purpose of this directive is to provide instructions to inspection program personnel (IPP) when establishments have records created by video or other electronic monitoring or recording equipment. The directive also addresses use of ―live feed video‖ in slaughter facilities.

KEY POINTS:
How to review records generated by video equipment or other electronic monitoring equipment
How IPP are to approach live feed video

This directive provides instructions for inspection program personnel (IPP) to follow when verifying that official establishments that produce meat or poultry products establish and actively maintain the required written recall plan procedures. FSIS is reissuing this directive to include additional information on how IPP are to verify an establishment’s recall plan procedures. It also provides instructions for the use of the Public Health Information System (PHIS) in the recall plan procedures verification activity and instructs IPP to verify that establishments maintain recall plan procedures while they operate under a conditional grant of inspection.

Per 6 V.S.A. § 3305 (8), the State of Vermont adopts Title 9, Code of Federal Regulations, Chapter 3, 9 CFR §§ 300.1 et seq., together with any amendments, supplements, or revisions thereto.

This directive provides inspection program personnel (IPP) instructions for performing the Hazard Analysis Verification (HAV) task. This directive also identifies circumstances that will require IPP to conduct a directed HAV task for a specific product or processing category and provides instructions for IPP to perform such directed HAV tasks. This directive is being revised to provide updated instructions on assessing compliance with Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) systems validation regulatory requirements and to provide additional instructions to IPP when trends are identified during an analysis of HAV task data.
KEY POINTS:
• Provides instructions to IPP on the performance of the HAV task
• Provides instructions to IPP on verifying the use and implementation of prerequisite programs
• Provides updated guidance for verifying compliance with validation regulatory requirements
Incorporates the instructions in FSIS PHIS Directive 5000.1, Verifying an Establishments Food Safety System, Chapters III and IV into this directive
• Provides instructions to FSS regarding verification of the use and implementation of prerequisite programs
• Makes clear that conducting a HAV task is not the same as conducting a Food Safety Assessment (FSA)

This directive provides instructions to inspection program personnel (IPP) in meat and poultry processing operations on how to verify compliance with the sanitation regulations in establishments that conduct a complete cleaning and sanitizing of product contact equipment less frequently than every day.
KEY POINTS:
• VAAFM MIS does not provide inspection services to egg products establishments

• IPP are to evaluate LTD sanitation procedures using applicable regulations in 9 CFR 416 and 417 because sanitation procedures of this type are the foundation of food safety systems

• Establishments are not required to submit their procedures for prior review or approval to implement a LTD sanitation program

• Meat and poultry processing establishments may conduct a complete cleaning and sanitizing at frequencies other than daily. Slaughter establishments are not allowed to conduct LTD sanitation procedures, with the exception of poultry chillers that have been adjusted to stabilize water pH and temperature and with antimicrobial levels sufficient to inhibit bacterial growth.

This directive provides instructions to inspection program personnel (IPP) regarding how to perform the Public Health Information System (PHIS) Pre-Operational (Pre-Op) Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (Sanitation SOP) verification task in meat and poultry slaughter and processing operations.

B. IPP assigned to meat and poultry establishments that maintain less than daily (LTD) sanitation procedures are also to follow the instructions in VT Directive 5000.5, Verification of Less Than Daily (LTD) Sanitation Procedures in Processing Operations, when performing the Pre-Op Sanitation SOP verification task.

KEY POINTS:
• Provides instructions regarding the development of a risk-based approach for selecting equipment to examine in meat and poultry processing and slaughter operations and official import establishments (Chapter II)
• Clarifies how non-food contact surfaces and non-production areas are to be addressed during the performance of the Pre-Op Sanitation SOP verification task
• Clarifies the appropriate regulations to cite when documenting noncompliance with the regulatory requirements in 9 CFR 416

This directive provides inspection program personnel (IPP) with instructions for verifying that meat and poultry establishments identify, segregate, and properly hold adulterated product that has been returned to the establishment or plant or has been received by the establishment or plant for further processing. Also, this directive addresses IPP’s responsibility to verify that an establishment or plant holds products in an appropriate manner pending receipt of FSIS laboratory results.

Updated to reflect that the determination as to whether meat and poultry products are not adulterated will be withheld, and thus not eligible to enter commerce, until all test results that bear on the determination have been received
Updated to remove PBIS procedure codes and include Public Health Information System (PHIS) Inspection Task names

The purpose of this directive is to clarify that inspection program personnel have access to a wide range of records under the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control (HACCP) regulations (9 CFR part 417), and that they are to use that access to review certain types of records on a regular basis.
NOTE: This directive does not address Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (Sanitation SOPs) records verification. All instructions related to verification of Sanitation SOP records are addressed in VT Directive 5000.1, Chapter I.
FSIS is reissuing this directive to instruct inspection program personnel on how to document that they conducted the weekly record review and to provide additional information on how to review establishment records.

This directive sets out the Agency’s specific procedures regarding ethical employee conduct, specifically related to employee assignment restrictions and gifts from regulated establishments (i.e., official meat and poultry products establishments, or facilities receiving voluntary inspection).