Southwest Meat Association (SMA) is a leading meat and poultry trade organization representing packers and processors all over the United States. SMA is an organization created to make a difference for its members by initiating opportunities, resolving problems, and thus helping our member companies to earn a reasonable return on their investment.
Membership Benefits:
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Educational Programs
HACCP Training & Consulting
Regulatory Assistance
Membership Directory
Nutritional Labeling
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Annual Convention
LATEST NEWS:
FSIS to Host Public Meeting on the Future of Consumer Food Safety Education
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is holding a virtual public meeting on Oct. 6 to discuss the state of consumer food safety education, current research, and future studies and engagement to close the gap between food safety messages and consumer action.
The public meeting, “Food Safety: Consumer Outreach and Education Today and for the Future,” will be held virtually on Oct. 6, 12 – 4 p.m. ET. It will feature presentations from food safety experts on their current and upcoming work and will highlight partnerships that have set the stage for the continued improvement of consumer food safety. Participants must register online to attend, and can indicate if they would like to speak at the meeting when they register.
FSIS invites those interested in public health and advancing food safety to comment on activities and research that promote safe consumer food handling. Interested parties should submit comments at http://www.regulations.gov, docket number FSIS-2020-0026, by Oct. 9. If you would like your comment to be considered for the public comment period of the meeting, please submit it on or before September 18.
FSIS Announces Proposal to Expand Generic Label Approval
FSIS is proposing to amend its inspection regulations pertaining to the generic approval of meat, poultry, and egg product labels. Labels that have been generically approved do not need to be submitted to or reviewed by FSIS before they can be used on product in commerce. Under FSIS regulations, certain categories of labels must be submitted to FSIS for review and approval before use. All other labels may be “generically approved” if they meet all applicable requirements and are, therefore, not required to be submitted to FSIS before use.
Under this proposed rule, labels on products for export that deviate from FSIS requirements but meet the requirements of the foreign country would be deemed generically approved. In addition, the proposed rule would extend generic approval to the following labeling claims:
• Claims in a label’s ingredients statement that designate ingredients as certified “organic” (e.g., organic garlic) under the Agricultural Marketing Service National Organic Program
• Geographic landmarks on product labels, such as a foreign country’s flag, monument, or map
• “Negative” claims on product labels that identify the absence of certain ingredients or types of ingredients (e.g., “No MSG Added,” “Preservative Free,” “No Milk,” “No Pork,” or “Made Without Soy”)
The proposed rule would also permit generic label approval for products that receive voluntary FSIS inspection (e.g., exotic species under 9 CFR part 352) on the same basis as amenable meat, poultry, and egg products. Lastly, under the proposed rule, FSIS would no longer evaluate generically approved labels voluntarily submitted to FSIS for review.
FSIS is seeking public comments on the proposal until November 13, 2020. Comments may be submitted online via the federal eRulemaking portal, available at http://www.regulations.gov; by mail sent to Docket Clerk, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service, 1400 Independence Avenue SW, Mailstop 3758, Room 6065, Washington, D.C., 20250-3700.
All items submitted by mail or electronic mail must include the agency name and docket number FSIS-2019-0019.
FSIS will consider the comments received and respond to them as it works on finalizing the rule.
SMA Virtual 64th Annual Convention
Thank you for joining us for the Virtual 64th Annual Convention featuring lectures from industry leaders sharing relevant and insightful content on challenges facing the meat and poultry industry today.
64th Annual Convention & Suppliers’ Showcase Program Book
A complete recording of each presentations from the virtual convention can be found here.
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