Meat and Poultry Inspection (MPI) programs

To provide guidance to State Cooperative Meat and Poultry Inspection (MPI) programs electing to use a data system other than FSIS’s Public Health Information System (PHIS) for meeting the “at least equal to” data system essentials.

II. BACKGROUND

The Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA) (21 USC 661) and the Poultry Products Inspection Act (PPIA) (21 USC 454) provide for FSIS to cooperate with State agencies in developing and administering their own Meat and Poultry Inspection Programs. Individual State MPI programs are required to operate in a manner and with authorities that are “at least equal to” the antemortem and post-mortem inspection, reinspection, sanitation, recordkeeping, and enforcement provisions as provided for in the FMIA and PPIA. Therefore, State MPI programs are required to develop a data system with characteristics that can produce inspection and recordkeeping outcomes “at least equal to” FSIS’s procedures. FSIS maintains PHIS as its data system.

PHIS functions as an integrated data collection and analysis system that verifies the effectiveness and efficiency of Agency inspection. FSIS relies heavily on data to promote proactive decisions affecting food safety and public health and has strengthened both its data collection and analysis activities to ensure valid, timely data is collected, carefully analyzed, and continually reported.

FSIS ensures that data collected through PHIS is fully available and organized so that the analysis of data from FSIS’s regulatory verification and compliance and enforcement activities, sampling, and other sources of data provide the Agency with evidence that shows whether or not the Agency’s approach is working. To determine the success of the strategies used to combat threats to food safety and defense, FSIS employs data analysis as a management verification measure that helps ensure that the program components are effective in meeting the Agency’s public health goals and objectives.

FSIS recognizes that an integrated infrastructure with high quality data and feedback interaction is essential to a data-driven approach to inspection. A data-driven approach to inspection requires quality data collection methods, ongoing data analysis to refine analytical decision making tools, and performance measures to assess the impact of policies and programs.

PHIS is designed to consolidate and integrate the Agency’s critical functions of inspection, surveillance, auditing, enforcement, scheduling, modeling, and analysis to provide better public health protection. It also reduces delays in FSIS decision-making by providing feedback loops that utilize the data input by the inspection staff and laboratory test results to drive automated scheduling functions, reporting functions, and alerting of events.

PHIS uses the Task Library to develop the Task List for each establishment. Each task arrives on the inspection program personnel’s (IPP) Task List with a due date and a frequency for performing the task. The inspectors then have the ability to place assigned tasks onto their personal Task Calendars and to schedule them for completion. PHIS gives IPP the flexibility to schedule tasks.

As tasks are completed, IPP record their findings of compliance and non-compliance in PHIS. FSIS uses PHIS data to schedule follow-up tasks and additional lab sampling as required.

There are feedback loops in PHIS that produce information vital to all levels of FSIS. Information and revised schedules are fed back to field personnel. Headquarters and District management generate reports to keep apprised of critical information for decision-making. Alerts and notifications are issued to Headquarters and IPP as events occur.

Hopefully you have found this helpful as it pertains to Food Logistics.

Thank you for your continuing support & call me anytime with any questions @ 1.404.750.3200

Thank You in Advance,

Bill Stankiewicz

Controller

PortFresh Logistics

2001 Old River Road

Bloomingdale, GA 31302

Phone: 1.404.750.3200

www.beBee.com