WORLD TRADE G/TBT/Notif.98.209
21April 1998
ORGANIZATION
(98-1601)
Committee onTechnical Barriers toTrade
NOTIFICATION
Thefollowing notification isbeing circulated inaccordance withArticle 10.6.
1. Member toAgreement notifying: UNITED STATES
Ifapplicable, name oflocalgovernment involved (Articles 3.2and7.2):
2. Agency responsible: Department ofAgriculture (8)
Agency orauthority designated tohandle comments regarding thenotification shall be
indicated ifdifferent from above:
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [X],2.10.1 [],5.6.2 [],5.7.1 [],other:
4. Products covered (HSorCCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading.
ICSnumbers maybeprovided inaddition, where applicable): Meat (HSChapter 2)
5. Title, number ofpages andlanguage(s) ofthenotified document: Meat Produced by
Advanced Meat/Bone Separation Machinery andRecovery Systems (8pages, English)
6. Description ofcontent: In1994, theFood Safety andInspection Service amended its
regulations torecognize thatproduct resulting from advanced meat/bone separation
machinery andrecovery systems comes within thedefinition ofmeat when these
recovery systems areoperated toensure thatthecharacteristics andcomposition ofthe
resulting product areconsistent withthose ofmeat. TheAgency isproposing toclarify
theregulations andtosupplement therules forassuring compliance. Infuture
rulemakings, theAgency expects toapply theprocess control-performance standards
approach ofthisproposal toother types ofoperations formanufacturing meat and
poultry trimmings. Thisproposal isalsobeing reported under theSPSAgreement.
7. Objective andrationale, including thenature ofurgent problems where applicable:
Consumer Protection.
8. Relevant documents: 63FR17959, 13April 1998; 9CFR Parts 301,318,and320.
Willappear intheFederal Register when adopted.
9. Proposed dateofadoption: Tobedetermined.
Proposed dateofentry intoforce:
10. Final dateforcomments: 12June1998
11. Texts available from: National enquiry point [x]oraddress, e-mail, andtelefax number
ofother body: