What Can I Do and Who Can I Do it With?

The title of this article may make it sound like we are going to get personal this month, but in reality the question I pose is an important one in the day-to-day operations of an USDA FSIS-inspected plant.

Recently, we have seen numerous recalls with the statement “Produced without the benefit of Inspection.” What exactly does this mean? Are plants trying to sneak production in the middle of the night? Is an animal being slaughtered at 3 a.m. so the sanitation personnel can have a steak dinner?

It is unfortunate that some people may be purposely doing these types of things, but my purpose is to review what you can and can’t do with and without inspection program personnel in a meat or poultry processing or packaging plant.
 

The Directive.

FSIS Directive 12,600.2 is a good place to start to review what you can and cannot do with and without inspection. Let’s go over the basics.

You MUST have inspection for the following activities:

A. You will be preparing meat or poultry for packaging or for further processing into meat or poultry food products. Examples of activities include slaughtering, boning, cutting, slicing, grinding, injecting, pumping, adding ingredients through other mechanical means, formulating, assembling, packaging, or labeling meat or poultry components of meat or poultry food products;

B. You will be conducting the verification activity or direct observations of its monitoring activities at critical control points (CCP) as required by 9 CFR 417.4(a)(2)(ii) and as set out in its Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) plan as required by 9 CFR 417.2(c)(7); or

C. You will be requesting that the mark of inspection be applied to any product during the overtime period.

Sections A and C are pretty simple and self-explanatory. But B can be confusing.

What You Cannot Do.

Let’s discuss what you cannot do without inspection in regard to HACCP:

You can monitor a CCP, you can review a CCP, but you cannot observe a CCP.

We will not argue the logic of this rule, since I think we would all agree it does not make sense. But it is very important that you understand the distinction of your HACCP activities regardless of the sense of this directive. Let’s say you are doing a 24-hour chill on a carcass. You harvest the carcass on Friday, and on Saturday morning you come in to do the carcass chill within that 24-hour period. You can perform the CCP. You can review the CCP. You cannot observe the CCP if the USDA is not there.

What You Can Do.

Now, let’s review what you can do without inspection. As stipulated in the FSIS Directive, you can:

1. Receive meat or poultry, spices or other ingredients from other establishments or facilities;
2. Receive and sort returned products that you had produced;
3. Ship inspected and passed, properly labeled products;
4. Move product within the establishment for further processing or storage;
5. Perform sanitation procedures in accordance with your Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (SSOPs);
6. Perform your monitoring procedures in accordance with your SSOPs;
7. Perform a monitoring function that you have established in your HACCP plan as required by 9 CFR 417.2(c)(4) (for example, monitoring the chilling of slaughtered carcasses or monitoring the cooking temperatures of products);
8. Perform a verification activity associated with 9 CFR 417.4(a)(2)(i), the calibration of process monitoring equipment, or 417.4(a)(2)(iii), the review of records generated and maintained in accordance with 417.5(a)(3);
9. Perform your pre-shipment records review as set out in your HACCP plan;
10. Perform corrective actions in accordance with your HACCP plan or SSOPs that do not include any of the activities listed previously (The Directive, section A).
11. Cook, dry, or smoke products when your establishment does not verify a CCP during the period. For example, if you cook products overnight by placing product in a smokehouse equipped with a continuous monitoring device, and you verify your lethality CCP as set out in 9 CFR 417.4(a)(2)(iii) the morning after the start of the approved operating hours, an inspector would not need to be on duty during the cooking/smoking cycle if your are not conducting any of the activities listed previously (The Directive, section A) during the same period.
12. Chill livestock carcasses when your establishment does not verify a CCP during the period. For example, you chill livestock carcasses that you have slaughtered, and an employee monitors the cooling temperatures with a hand-held thermometer. Then you verify the chilling CCP the next morning during approved operating hours.
13. Collect or test samples of your products.

If you have questions, don’t guess. Ask your inspector or IIC before you do something in the middle of the night or on a non-production day. Regardless of your opinion, if you perform an activity without inspection, prepare for a recall. If you find yourself needing inspection, don’t wait to the last minute to ask for it. The directive states: “As stated in 9 CFR 307.4(d)(3), establishments must request same-day overtime inspection services as early in the workday as possible, or before the end of the workday if the establishment is requesting overtime services to be performed on the next day…”

So, with this information it should be pretty clear on what you can and cannot do with or without inspection. If you follow all of these rules, then you should never see “Produced without the benefit of Inspection” on a recall at your establishment.