On December 21, 2015, the Food Safety and Inspection Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture released a final rule to require that all official establishments and retail stores that grind raw beef products keep records that disclose the establishment numbers of all source materials that they use in the preparation of each lot of raw ground beef. Establishments and retailers must also record the names of those supplied source materials, including beef components and carryover from one production lot to the next. Records are required to document lot numbers, the date and time each lot was produced, and the date and time when grinding equipment and other related food contact surfaces were cleaned and sanitized. Recordkeeping requirements apply to not just ordinary lots of ground beef, but raw beef products that are ground at an individual consumer’s request. Compliance is required by June 20.
A Lieberman PLLC Regulatory Update on the topic is available here.
Erik Lieberman of Lieberman PLLC will be hosting a complimentary webinar on January 20 at 2:00 pm EST to review and discuss the final rule. Please contact Erik Lieberman at erl1@liebermanpllc.com for details.
