Revising Establishment Size Definitions for Meat, Poultry, and Egg Products Plants
AI-generated summary for informational purposes only. Not legal advice. See the original source for the authoritative text.
The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is issuing an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) to gather stakeholder input on whether to update how it categorizes meat, poultry, and egg products establishments by size. Since 1996, FSIS has used HACCP-era size categories based on employee count and annual sales to assess regulatory impact and direct assistance to small entities. More recently, FSIS has also used volume-based thresholds to categorize establishments for purposes such as setting agency sampling frequencies and sampling requirements for regulated industry. The dual-system approach has created inconsistencies in how establishments are classified depending on the regulatory context. This ANPR does not propose specific changes but solicits public comment on whether the current definitions remain appropriate, whether volume-based or employee/sales-based metrics better reflect modern industry structure, and how any transition might affect small and very small establishments. Stakeholders — including meat and poultry processors, egg products plants, trade associations, and consumer groups — are invited to provide data and recommendations that could inform a future formal rulemaking.
AI-generated summary. May contain errors. Refer to official sources for legal decisions.
Key Changes
- FSIS is soliciting public comment on replacing or updating HACCP-era size categories (in use since 1996) based on employee count and annual sales
- Agency is considering whether volume-based thresholds should replace or supplement employee/sales metrics for classifying establishment size
- Proposed revisions would affect how FSIS analyzes regulatory impact on small and very small entities under federal rulemaking requirements
+ 3 more changes with Pro