[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 112 (Monday, June 12, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Page 30830]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-14279]
========================================================================
Notices
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules
or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings
and investigations, committee meetings, agency decisions and rulings,
delegations of authority, filing of petitions and applications and agency
statements of organization and functions are examples of documents
appearing in this section.
========================================================================
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 112 / Monday, June 12, 1995 /
Notices
[[Page 30830]]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Agricultural Marketing Service
[Docket No. PY-95-002)
Tentative Voluntary Poultry Grade Standards
AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is announcing that it
is approving the test marketing of USDA grade identified raw, ready-to-
cook, boneless-skinless poultry products, based on tentative grade
standards.
DATES: This test-market period begins June 12, 1995 and ends June 12,
1996.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Larry W. Robinson, Chief, Grading
Branch, Poultry Division, 202-720-3271.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Poultry grading is a voluntary program provided under the
Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946, as amended (7 U.S.C. 1621 et seq.),
and is offered on a fee-for-service basis. It is designed to assist the
orderly marketing of poultry products. Quality in practical terms
refers to the usability, desirability, and value of a product, as well
as its marketability. Poultry grade standards identify and measure
degrees of quality in poultry products. They permit important quality
attributes to be evaluated uniformly and accurately; they provide a way
for buyers and sellers to negotiate using a common language.
Once poultry has been graded according to these standards, it may
be identified with the USDA grademark. Over the years, processors have
found it advantageous to market grade-identified poultry products and
consumers have come to rely on the USDA grademark as assurance that
they are getting the quality they want.
Poultry producers and processors are continually developing new,
innovative products. Chicken and turkey, in particular, have been
transformed into numerous boneless and/or skinless products, thus
increasing poultry's share of the consumer's food dollar and responding
to consumer demand for food with more built-in convenience and less
fat. Current regulations (7 CFR part 70) provide grade standards for
boneless poultry breasts, thighs, and tenderloins (Sec. 70.231), as
well as for skinless carcasses and parts (Sec. 70.232). In addition, on
March 30, 1995, the Agency approved the test marketing of USDA grade-
identified, boneless/skinless poultry legs and drumsticks, based on
tentative grade standards, through April 1, 1996 (60 FR 16428).
The Agency has now been requested by industry to permit the grade
identification of raw, ready-to-cook, boneless-skinless poultry
products without added ingredients. These products include poultry that
has been reduced in size by cutting, slicing, cubing, or similar means
and products that are currently marketed ungraded because there are no
grade standards for them.
The Agency recognizes that before new standards of quality can be
established or current standards of quality can be amended, appropriate
investigation is needed. This includes the test marketing of
experimental packs of grade-identified poultry products to determine
production requirements and consumer acceptance, and to permit the
collection of other necessary data. Current regulations (Sec. 70.3)
provide the Agency with the flexibility needed to permit such
experimentation, so that new procedures and grading techniques may be
tested.
The Agency has worked in partnership with members of the industry
to develop tentative grade standards for raw, ready-to-cook, boneless-
skinless poultry products without added ingredients and is granting
permission for a 1-year test marketing period. At the expiration of
this 1-year period, the Agency will then evaluate the test results to
determine if the current poultry grading regulations should be amended,
through notice-and-comment rulemaking, to include the following
tentative standards.
Tentative Grade Standards for Ready-to-cook, Boneless-skinless Poultry
Products Without Added Ingredients--A Quality
1. The raw, ready-to-cook, boneless-skinless poultry products
without added ingredients must be labeled in accordance with 9 CFR part
381.
2. The poultry product must be derived from ready-to-cook carcasses
or parts.
3. The skin and bones shall be removed in a neat manner without
undue mutilation of adjacent muscle.
4. The poultry products may be further processed and subdivided by
cutting, slicing, cubing, or similarly reducing the size prior to
grading. Individual subdivided pieces of poultry must be of sufficient,
and relatively uniform, size and shape to determine grade with respect
to the quality factors set forth in this section.
5. The poultry products shall be free of cartilage, tendons
extending more than \1/2\ inch beyond the meat tissue, blood clots,
bruises, and discolorations other than slight discolorations, provided
they do not detract from the appearance of the product.
6. Trimming and minor flesh abrasions due to preparation techniques
are permitted provided they result in a relatively smooth outer surface
with no angular cuts, tears, holes, or undue muscle mutilation in the
meat portion.
Dated: June 6, 1995.
Lon Hatamiya,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 95-14279 Filed 6-9-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-02-P
