FSIS is beginning a project to follow-up on the implementation of this provision of the final rule. The purpose of the SSOP Implementation Follow-up is to determine the extent to which the new system has been implemented and to determine where additional effort is needed to assure that the new system is working as intended.
The specific objectives of this follow-up activity are:
1. To determine the extent to which the procedures outlined in the regulatory process model for SSOP's have been implemented;
2. To determine if the documentation of an establishment's non-compliance
with SSOP requirements is being carried out in a manner to sustain regulatory and enforcement actions;
3. To determine the extent to which the cultural changes introduced in conjunction with SSOP implementation have been initiated;
4. To determine the usefulness of the training and training materials for front-line field operations personnel; and
5. To determine if the Performance Based Inspection System (PBIS) is functioning as intended to support SSOP implementation.
This project will focus on collecting information to correlate expectations about how the new system was to be carried out with information about how the new system is actually being carried out. This will be accomplished through on-site interviews with inspection personnel and supervisors and on-site examination of records, such as PDR's and plant SSOP's. These on-site visits are not plant reviews and they are not reviews of FSIS employees or supervisors.
A total of approximately 250-300 plants nationally will be visited by the follow-up teams. Inspection personnel and supervisors will be interviewed at all sites. In addition, at approximately one-half of the plants, a records examination will be conducted to review the plant's SSOP's and a sample of inspection PDR's. The site visits are tentatively scheduled to begin the week of July 21 and continue until mid-September. A final report of findings is targeted for completion by October 15.
The Agency is interested in receiving input from constituent groups about particular sites for inclusion in this review. FSIS will attempt to include the suggested sites among those visited, but due to the limited number to be visited nationally, cannot guarantee that all suggested sites will be included in the visits.
For additional information, contact: Jeanne Axtell, USDA project leader, at (202) 720-4565.
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