81_FR_58041 81 FR 57877 - United States Standards for Grades of Carcass Beef

81 FR 57877 - United States Standards for Grades of Carcass Beef

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Agricultural Marketing Service

Federal Register Volume 81, Issue 164 (August 24, 2016)

Page Range57877-57879
FR Document2016-20254

The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) of the Department of Agriculture (USDA) is seeking public comments on a petition requesting revision to the United States Standards for Grades of Carcass Beef. Specifically, AMS is requesting comments concerning a petition that requests that the beef standards be amended to include dentition and documentation of actual age as an additional determination of maturity grouping for official quality grading. Currently, the standards only include skeletal and muscular evidence as a determination of maturity grouping for the purposes of official quality grading. Official quality grading is used as an indication of meat palatability and is a major determining factor in live cattle and beef value.

Federal Register, Volume 81 Issue 164 (Wednesday, August 24, 2016)
[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 164 (Wednesday, August 24, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57877-57879]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2016-20254]


========================================================================
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. 81, No. 164 / Wednesday, August 24, 2016 / 
Notices

[[Page 57877]]



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Agricultural Marketing Service

[Docket No. AMS-LPS-16-0060]


United States Standards for Grades of Carcass Beef

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice, request for comments.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) of the Department of 
Agriculture (USDA) is seeking public comments on a petition requesting 
revision to the United States Standards for Grades of Carcass Beef. 
Specifically, AMS is requesting comments concerning a petition that 
requests that the beef standards be amended to include dentition and 
documentation of actual age as an additional determination of maturity 
grouping for official quality grading. Currently, the standards only 
include skeletal and muscular evidence as a determination of maturity 
grouping for the purposes of official quality grading. Official quality 
grading is used as an indication of meat palatability and is a major 
determining factor in live cattle and beef value.

DATES: Submit comments on or before October 24, 2016.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to Beef Carcass Revisions, 
Standardization Branch, Quality Assessment Division; Livestock Poultry 
and Seed Program, Agricultural Marketing Service, U.S. Department of 
Agriculture, 1400 Independence Ave. SW., Room 3932-S, STOP 0258, 
Washington, DC 20250-0258. Comments may also be sent by fax to (202) 
690-2746 or by email to [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For additional information, please 
contact Bucky Gwartney, International Marketing Specialist, Quality 
Assessment Division, at [email protected] or (202) 720-1424.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 203(c) of the Agricultural Marketing 
Act of 1946, as amended, directs and authorizes the Secretary of 
Agriculture ``to develop and improve standards of quality, condition, 
quantity, grade, and packaging and recommend and demonstrate such 
standards in order to encourage uniformity and consistency in 
commercial practices.'' AMS is committed to carrying out this authority 
in a manner that facilitates the marketing of agricultural commodities 
and makes copies of official standards available upon request. The 
United States Standards for Grades of Carcass Beef do not appear in the 
Code of Federal Regulations but are maintained by USDA. These standards 
are located on USDA's Web site at: https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/Carcass%20Beef%20Standard.pdf. To change the United 
States Standards for Grades of Carcass Beef, AMS plans to utilize the 
procedures it published in the August 13, 1997, Federal Register, and 
that appear in part 36 of title 7 of the Code of Federal Regulations (7 
CFR part 36).

Background

    The Federal beef grade standards and associated voluntary, fee-for-
service beef grading service program are authorized under the 
Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946, as amended (7 U.S.C. 1621 et seq.). 
The primary purpose of Federal grade standards, including the Federal 
beef grade standards, is to divide the population of a commodity into 
uniform groups (of similar quality, yield, value, etc.) to facilitate 
marketing. In concert, the Federal voluntary, fee-for-service grading 
program is designed to provide an independent, objective determination 
as to if a given product is in conformance with the applicable official 
Federal standard. In the case of beef, when it is voluntarily graded to 
the Federal beef grade standards under the beef grading service, the 
official grade consists of a quality grade and/or a yield grade.
    The quality grades are intended to identify differences in the 
palatability or eating satisfaction of cooked beef principally through 
the characteristics of marbling and physiological maturity groupings. 
As noted in the standards referenced above, the principal official USDA 
quality grades for young (maturity groups ``A'' and ``B'') cattle and 
carcasses are Prime, Choice, and Select, in descending order in terms 
of historic market value. USDA recognizes that the beef standards must 
be relevant to be of greatest value to stakeholders and, therefore, 
recommendations for changes in the standards may be initiated by USDA 
or by interested parties at any time to achieve that goal.
    For beef, USDA quality grades provide a simple, effective means of 
describing product that is easily understood by both buyers and 
sellers. By identifying separate and distinct segments of beef, grades 
enable buyers to obtain that particular kind of beef that meets their 
individual needs. For example, certain restaurants may choose to only 
sell officially graded USDA Prime beef so as to provide their customers 
with a product that meets a very consistent level of overall 
palatability. At the same time, grades are important in transmitting 
information to cattlemen to help ensure informed decisions are made. 
For example, the market preference and price paid for a particular 
grade of beef is communicated to cattle producers so they can adjust 
their production accordingly. In such a case, if the price premium 
being paid for a grade such as USDA Prime beef merits producers making 
the investments required in cattle genetics and feeding to produce more 
USDA Prime beef, such marketing decisions can be made with 
justification.
    The current beef standards do not utilize dentition or age 
verification as methods to determine maturity groupings and instead 
rely solely on skeletal and lean (physiological) maturity. Although 
never intended to be a definitive method to determine the age of cattle 
at the time of slaughter and instead utilized to predict beef 
palatability, the maturity groupings have historically been roughly 
correlated to different age categories. Maturity grouping A was 
correlated with beef from cattle between 9 and 30 months of age at time 
of slaughter, maturity grouping B was correlated with beef from cattle 
between 30 and 42 months of age at time of slaughter, maturity grouping 
C was correlated with beef from cattle between 42 and 72 months of age 
at time of slaughter, maturity grouping D was correlated with

[[Page 57878]]

beef from cattle between 72 and 96 months of age at time of slaughter, 
and maturity grouping E was correlated with beef from cattle more than 
96 months of age at time of slaughter. However, these are rough 
approximations that are influenced by other factors including diet, 
growth promotion administration, calving, breed, and a variety of 
environmental factors. Therefore, cattle that are younger than 30 
months of age (MOA) may have a physiological maturity of B or greater 
beef quality grade maturity grouping due to other factors listed above.
    The current use of dentition to determine animal age at time of 
slaughter is done on all slaughtered cattle in order to determine 
whether their age is less than or greater than 30 MOA due to food 
safety requirements. Cattle older than 30 MOA must have specific risk 
materials (e.g., vertebral column) removed from their carcasses before 
the sale of the resulting beef cuts. Age verification involves 
providing the paper paperwork or other proof of an animals' actual age 
(i.e., less than 30 MOA) and is also used for a variety of purposes 
including meeting foreign market requirements for U.S. beef from cattle 
under a certain age.
    The official standards have had past revisions made to the maturity 
grouping requirements, and these revisions resulted in classifications 
that were designed to reduce the variability of eating quality within 
the grades. The most recent such change occurred in 1997 when certain 
carcasses from the B maturity grouping were no longer eligible for the 
USDA Choice or Select quality grades. However, the official standards 
have never relied upon any other indicator besides physiological 
maturity to determine maturity grouping or the resulting USDA quality 
grade. This was primarily because the use of physiological maturity 
wasn't intended to be used to predict the age of an animal at time of 
slaughter but, instead, the resulting palatability of the meat. Many 
years of research have demonstrated a strong correlation between 
physiological maturity and beef palatability.
    However, current research has indicated that carcasses from grain-
fed steers and heifers that are deemed less than 30 MOA, based on 
dentition, are similar in palatability to A maturity carcasses 
determined via physiological maturity and thus could be classified 
``A'' maturity for grading purposes even though the physiological 
maturity characteristics of ``B'' or older maturity groupings may be 
present. Utilizing the recommendations of dentition and age 
verification would allow for an alternate method of classifying beef 
carcasses into maturity groupings and thus allow additional carcasses 
to qualify for the higher USDA grades of Prime, Choice and Select 
without a significant reduction in the consistency of those grades in 
predicting palatability.
    AMS was provided a large data set from a recent study of beef 
packing plant slaughter and has performed a statistical and economic 
analysis on this data in order to determine the possible impact should 
the proposed change to the Standards be adopted. That report can be 
found here: https://www.ams.usda.gov/grades-standards/beef-request-for-comments. The study period ranged from the beginning of May 2014 
through the end of April 2015, and the results are summarized below.
    Extrapolating the study data across the total population of cattle 
graded each year by AMS--approximately 21 million--results in the 
following:
     Seventy-two percent were slaughtered in facilities 
participating in the study,
     Ninety-seven percent were found to be less than 30 MOA 
using dentition,
     Less than 3 percent (2.8) were found to be equal to or 
greater than 30 MOA,
     Less than 2 percent (1.68) were deemed to be age-
discounted when using skeletal ossification as the measure of maturity 
grouping, and
     Less than one-half of 1 percent of the total cattle graded 
were age-verified.
    According to the study, had there been an allowance to use 
dentition as a means to override physiological characteristics of 
advanced maturity grouping, as is proposed, an additional 1.3 percent 
of those cattle would have been eligible for grading. Of these cattle, 
4.5 percent would have been graded Prime, 63.6 percent Choice, and 31.9 
percent Select. Within the Choice category, 24.4 percent of all newly 
graded carcasses, would have been placed in the top two-thirds Choice 
category (branded Choice programs), and 39.2 percent of all added 
carcasses would have been placed in the bottom of the Choice category. 
Currently, many private companies or organizations have established 
carcass schedules whereby AMS graders evaluate individual carcasses for 
conformance with those established requirements--things such as breed 
or breed influence, age, ribeye size, carcass weight. Most of those 
carcass programs (e.g., Certified Angus BeefTM) currently 
have requirements for only allowing ``A Maturity'' carcasses.
    The grade composition of the carcasses being added by using 
dentition as a measure of age was not much different than the grade 
composition of carcasses graded using physiological maturity, and 
overall, these data show an increase of 1.05 percent for Prime beef, 
0.91 percent for Choice \1\ and 1.29 percent for Select. According to 
calculations made from wholesale beef elasticity, wholesale beef prices 
could decline between 1 to 1.5 percent for each of the grade categories 
as a result of the increased supply of graded beef.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ While the volume of Choice carcasses added is large, the 
existing production of Choice beef is significantly large enough to 
result is a smaller proportion of Choice added than for Prime and 
Select.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    According to projections provided by the National Cattlemen's Beef 
Association (NCBA), producers would yield approximately $59 million in 
added revenue from removal of discounts for cattle identified as 
greater than A maturity grouping that dentition would allow to be 
classified as such. AMS found a net gain to producers of nearly $55 
million, primarily due to reduced hard bone discounts for quality grade 
maturity grouping done by the current physiological maturity approach 
alone.
    A petition has been submitted by NCBA, the National Association 
State Departments of Agriculture, the U.S. Meat Export Federation, and 
the American Farm Bureau Federation and can be found here: https://www.ams.usda.gov/grades-standards/beef-request-for-comments.
    The petitioners cite several research papers, as listed in the 
reference section at the above link, to support their request. Two of 
the summary papers that outline the relevant studies can be found here: 
https://www.ams.usda.gov/grades-standards/beef-request-for-comments. In 
summary, the studies showed that the use of dentition to determine 
maturity groupings did not have a significant negative affect on the 
ability of the official USDA quality grades to group beef into similar 
palatability categories while at the same time would allow for 
additional carcasses to qualify for the higher USDA quality grades of 
Prime, Choice and Select. This would allow for consumers to have access 
to additional USDA Prime, Choice and Select beef as well as for 
producers to be paid price premiums for cattle whose carcasses grade 
USDA Prime, Choice or Select.
    In addition, a recent analysis located at: https://www.ams.usda.gov/grades-standards/beef-request-for-comments, which was 
done by the American Meat Science Association's Committee on Grading, 
found that while age at the time of slaughter does influence meat 
palatability, this becomes less

[[Page 57879]]

influential within the young U.S. grain-fed cattle population, as the 
vast majority of cattle presented for grading in U.S. beef processing 
facilities are less than 30 MOA and USDA ``A'' or ``B'' maturity. It is 
important to note that the population of fed beef cattle in the U.S. 
has changed significantly over the last several decades. Today, there 
is greater consistency within the cattle herd, improved genetics, a 
relatively young slaughter population, more widespread use of growth 
promoting technologies that are known to effect bone ossification, and 
much higher carcass weights at slaughter which may also have skeletal 
implications. These market and production changes, along with recent 
research, could indicate that physiological maturity is less 
influential on palatability than in the past.

Request for Comments

    AMS is soliciting comments from stakeholders about whether changes 
in the methodology for determining maturity grouping assessment for the 
purposes of official USDA quality grading should be made. This change 
would have no effect on the role that maturity groupings have upon USDA 
quality grade determination, simply how carcasses are placed into those 
maturity groupings. AMS also invites comments about how those changes 
would be implemented in the current beef grading system. If, after 
analyzing the comments, AMS determines that changes are warranted, a 
notice will be published in the Federal Register proposing specific 
changes to the United States Standards for Carcass Beef. Interested 
parties will have an opportunity to comment prior to a final decision 
adopting any changes.

    Dated: August 19, 2016.
Elanor Starmer,
Administrator, Agricultural Marketing Service.
[FR Doc. 2016-20254 Filed 8-23-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3410-02-P



                                                                                                                                                                                                   57877

                                                  Notices                                                                                                       Federal Register
                                                                                                                                                                Vol. 81, No. 164

                                                                                                                                                                Wednesday, August 24, 2016



                                                  This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER                    bucky.gwartney@ams.usda.gov or (202)                  USDA quality grades for young
                                                  contains documents other than rules or                  720–1424.                                             (maturity groups ‘‘A’’ and ‘‘B’’) cattle
                                                  proposed rules that are applicable to the               SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section                    and carcasses are Prime, Choice, and
                                                  public. Notices of hearings and investigations,                                                               Select, in descending order in terms of
                                                  committee meetings, agency decisions and
                                                                                                          203(c) of the Agricultural Marketing Act
                                                                                                          of 1946, as amended, directs and                      historic market value. USDA recognizes
                                                  rulings, delegations of authority, filing of
                                                  petitions and applications and agency                   authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture               that the beef standards must be relevant
                                                  statements of organization and functions are            ‘‘to develop and improve standards of                 to be of greatest value to stakeholders
                                                  examples of documents appearing in this                 quality, condition, quantity, grade, and              and, therefore, recommendations for
                                                  section.                                                packaging and recommend and                           changes in the standards may be
                                                                                                          demonstrate such standards in order to                initiated by USDA or by interested
                                                                                                          encourage uniformity and consistency                  parties at any time to achieve that goal.
                                                  DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE                               in commercial practices.’’ AMS is                        For beef, USDA quality grades
                                                                                                          committed to carrying out this authority              provide a simple, effective means of
                                                  Agricultural Marketing Service                          in a manner that facilitates the                      describing product that is easily
                                                                                                          marketing of agricultural commodities                 understood by both buyers and sellers.
                                                  [Docket No. AMS–LPS–16–0060]                            and makes copies of official standards                By identifying separate and distinct
                                                                                                          available upon request. The United                    segments of beef, grades enable buyers
                                                  United States Standards for Grades of                   States Standards for Grades of Carcass                to obtain that particular kind of beef that
                                                  Carcass Beef                                            Beef do not appear in the Code of                     meets their individual needs. For
                                                                                                          Federal Regulations but are maintained                example, certain restaurants may choose
                                                  AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service,
                                                                                                          by USDA. These standards are located                  to only sell officially graded USDA
                                                  USDA.
                                                                                                          on USDA’s Web site at: https://www.                   Prime beef so as to provide their
                                                  ACTION: Notice, request for comments.                                                                         customers with a product that meets a
                                                                                                          ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/
                                                  SUMMARY:    The Agricultural Marketing                  Carcass%20Beef%20Standard.pdf. To                     very consistent level of overall
                                                  Service (AMS) of the Department of                      change the United States Standards for                palatability. At the same time, grades
                                                  Agriculture (USDA) is seeking public                    Grades of Carcass Beef, AMS plans to                  are important in transmitting
                                                  comments on a petition requesting                       utilize the procedures it published in                information to cattlemen to help ensure
                                                  revision to the United States Standards                 the August 13, 1997, Federal Register,                informed decisions are made. For
                                                  for Grades of Carcass Beef. Specifically,               and that appear in part 36 of title 7 of              example, the market preference and
                                                  AMS is requesting comments                              the Code of Federal Regulations (7 CFR                price paid for a particular grade of beef
                                                  concerning a petition that requests that                part 36).                                             is communicated to cattle producers so
                                                  the beef standards be amended to                                                                              they can adjust their production
                                                                                                          Background                                            accordingly. In such a case, if the price
                                                  include dentition and documentation of
                                                  actual age as an additional                               The Federal beef grade standards and                premium being paid for a grade such as
                                                  determination of maturity grouping for                  associated voluntary, fee-for-service beef            USDA Prime beef merits producers
                                                  official quality grading. Currently, the                grading service program are authorized                making the investments required in
                                                  standards only include skeletal and                     under the Agricultural Marketing Act of               cattle genetics and feeding to produce
                                                  muscular evidence as a determination of                 1946, as amended (7 U.S.C. 1621 et                    more USDA Prime beef, such marketing
                                                  maturity grouping for the purposes of                   seq.). The primary purpose of Federal                 decisions can be made with
                                                  official quality grading. Official quality              grade standards, including the Federal                justification.
                                                  grading is used as an indication of meat                beef grade standards, is to divide the                   The current beef standards do not
                                                  palatability and is a major determining                 population of a commodity into uniform                utilize dentition or age verification as
                                                  factor in live cattle and beef value.                   groups (of similar quality, yield, value,             methods to determine maturity
                                                                                                          etc.) to facilitate marketing. In concert,            groupings and instead rely solely on
                                                  DATES: Submit comments on or before
                                                                                                          the Federal voluntary, fee-for-service                skeletal and lean (physiological)
                                                  October 24, 2016.                                       grading program is designed to provide                maturity. Although never intended to be
                                                  ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to                   an independent, objective determination               a definitive method to determine the age
                                                  Beef Carcass Revisions, Standardization                 as to if a given product is in                        of cattle at the time of slaughter and
                                                  Branch, Quality Assessment Division;                    conformance with the applicable official              instead utilized to predict beef
                                                  Livestock Poultry and Seed Program,                     Federal standard. In the case of beef,                palatability, the maturity groupings
                                                  Agricultural Marketing Service, U.S.                    when it is voluntarily graded to the                  have historically been roughly
                                                  Department of Agriculture, 1400                         Federal beef grade standards under the                correlated to different age categories.
                                                  Independence Ave. SW., Room 3932–S,                     beef grading service, the official grade              Maturity grouping A was correlated
                                                  STOP 0258, Washington, DC 20250–                        consists of a quality grade and/or a yield            with beef from cattle between 9 and 30
                                                  0258. Comments may also be sent by fax                  grade.                                                months of age at time of slaughter,
mstockstill on DSK3G9T082PROD with NOTICES




                                                  to (202) 690–2746 or by email to                          The quality grades are intended to                  maturity grouping B was correlated with
                                                  beefcarcassrevisions@ams.usda.gov.                      identify differences in the palatability or           beef from cattle between 30 and 42
                                                  FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For                    eating satisfaction of cooked beef                    months of age at time of slaughter,
                                                  additional information, please contact                  principally through the characteristics               maturity grouping C was correlated with
                                                  Bucky Gwartney, International                           of marbling and physiological maturity                beef from cattle between 42 and 72
                                                  Marketing Specialist, Quality                           groupings. As noted in the standards                  months of age at time of slaughter,
                                                  Assessment Division, at                                 referenced above, the principal official              maturity grouping D was correlated with


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                                                  57878                      Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 164 / Wednesday, August 24, 2016 / Notices

                                                  beef from cattle between 72 and 96                      method of classifying beef carcasses into             composition of carcasses graded using
                                                  months of age at time of slaughter, and                 maturity groupings and thus allow                     physiological maturity, and overall,
                                                  maturity grouping E was correlated with                 additional carcasses to qualify for the               these data show an increase of 1.05
                                                  beef from cattle more than 96 months of                 higher USDA grades of Prime, Choice                   percent for Prime beef, 0.91 percent for
                                                  age at time of slaughter. However, these                and Select without a significant                      Choice 1 and 1.29 percent for Select.
                                                  are rough approximations that are                       reduction in the consistency of those                 According to calculations made from
                                                  influenced by other factors including                   grades in predicting palatability.                    wholesale beef elasticity, wholesale beef
                                                  diet, growth promotion administration,                    AMS was provided a large data set                   prices could decline between 1 to 1.5
                                                  calving, breed, and a variety of                        from a recent study of beef packing                   percent for each of the grade categories
                                                  environmental factors. Therefore, cattle                plant slaughter and has performed a                   as a result of the increased supply of
                                                  that are younger than 30 months of age                  statistical and economic analysis on this             graded beef.
                                                  (MOA) may have a physiological                          data in order to determine the possible                  According to projections provided by
                                                  maturity of B or greater beef quality                   impact should the proposed change to                  the National Cattlemen’s Beef
                                                  grade maturity grouping due to other                    the Standards be adopted. That report                 Association (NCBA), producers would
                                                  factors listed above.                                   can be found here: https://www.ams.                   yield approximately $59 million in
                                                     The current use of dentition to                      usda.gov/grades-standards/beef-request-               added revenue from removal of
                                                  determine animal age at time of                         for-comments. The study period ranged                 discounts for cattle identified as greater
                                                  slaughter is done on all slaughtered                    from the beginning of May 2014 through                than A maturity grouping that dentition
                                                  cattle in order to determine whether                    the end of April 2015, and the results                would allow to be classified as such.
                                                  their age is less than or greater than 30               are summarized below.                                 AMS found a net gain to producers of
                                                  MOA due to food safety requirements.                      Extrapolating the study data across                 nearly $55 million, primarily due to
                                                  Cattle older than 30 MOA must have                      the total population of cattle graded                 reduced hard bone discounts for quality
                                                  specific risk materials (e.g., vertebral                each year by AMS—approximately 21                     grade maturity grouping done by the
                                                  column) removed from their carcasses                    million—results in the following:                     current physiological maturity approach
                                                  before the sale of the resulting beef cuts.               • Seventy-two percent were                          alone.
                                                  Age verification involves providing the                 slaughtered in facilities participating in               A petition has been submitted by
                                                  paper paperwork or other proof of an                    the study,                                            NCBA, the National Association State
                                                  animals’ actual age (i.e., less than 30                   • Ninety-seven percent were found to                Departments of Agriculture, the U.S.
                                                  MOA) and is also used for a variety of                  be less than 30 MOA using dentition,                  Meat Export Federation, and the
                                                  purposes including meeting foreign                        • Less than 3 percent (2.8) were                    American Farm Bureau Federation and
                                                  market requirements for U.S. beef from                  found to be equal to or greater than 30               can be found here: https://www.ams.
                                                  cattle under a certain age.                             MOA,                                                  usda.gov/grades-standards/beef-request-
                                                     The official standards have had past                   • Less than 2 percent (1.68) were                   for-comments.
                                                  revisions made to the maturity grouping                 deemed to be age-discounted when                         The petitioners cite several research
                                                  requirements, and these revisions                       using skeletal ossification as the                    papers, as listed in the reference section
                                                  resulted in classifications that were                   measure of maturity grouping, and                     at the above link, to support their
                                                  designed to reduce the variability of                     • Less than one-half of 1 percent of                request. Two of the summary papers
                                                  eating quality within the grades. The                   the total cattle graded were age-verified.            that outline the relevant studies can be
                                                  most recent such change occurred in                       According to the study, had there                   found here: https://www.ams.usda.gov/
                                                  1997 when certain carcasses from the B                  been an allowance to use dentition as a               grades-standards/beef-request-for-
                                                  maturity grouping were no longer                        means to override physiological                       comments. In summary, the studies
                                                  eligible for the USDA Choice or Select                  characteristics of advanced maturity                  showed that the use of dentition to
                                                  quality grades. However, the official                   grouping, as is proposed, an additional               determine maturity groupings did not
                                                  standards have never relied upon any                    1.3 percent of those cattle would have                have a significant negative affect on the
                                                  other indicator besides physiological                   been eligible for grading. Of these cattle,           ability of the official USDA quality
                                                  maturity to determine maturity grouping                 4.5 percent would have been graded                    grades to group beef into similar
                                                  or the resulting USDA quality grade.                    Prime, 63.6 percent Choice, and 31.9                  palatability categories while at the same
                                                  This was primarily because the use of                   percent Select. Within the Choice                     time would allow for additional
                                                  physiological maturity wasn’t intended                  category, 24.4 percent of all newly                   carcasses to qualify for the higher USDA
                                                  to be used to predict the age of an                     graded carcasses, would have been                     quality grades of Prime, Choice and
                                                  animal at time of slaughter but, instead,               placed in the top two-thirds Choice                   Select. This would allow for consumers
                                                  the resulting palatability of the meat.                 category (branded Choice programs),                   to have access to additional USDA
                                                  Many years of research have                             and 39.2 percent of all added carcasses               Prime, Choice and Select beef as well as
                                                  demonstrated a strong correlation                       would have been placed in the bottom                  for producers to be paid price premiums
                                                  between physiological maturity and beef                 of the Choice category. Currently, many               for cattle whose carcasses grade USDA
                                                  palatability.                                           private companies or organizations have               Prime, Choice or Select.
                                                     However, current research has                        established carcass schedules whereby                    In addition, a recent analysis located
                                                  indicated that carcasses from grain-fed                 AMS graders evaluate individual                       at: https://www.ams.usda.gov/grades-
                                                  steers and heifers that are deemed less                 carcasses for conformance with those                  standards/beef-request-for-comments,
                                                  than 30 MOA, based on dentition, are                    established requirements—things such                  which was done by the American Meat
                                                  similar in palatability to A maturity                   as breed or breed influence, age, ribeye              Science Association’s Committee on
                                                  carcasses determined via physiological                  size, carcass weight. Most of those                   Grading, found that while age at the
mstockstill on DSK3G9T082PROD with NOTICES




                                                  maturity and thus could be classified                   carcass programs (e.g., Certified Angus               time of slaughter does influence meat
                                                  ‘‘A’’ maturity for grading purposes even                BeefTM) currently have requirements for               palatability, this becomes less
                                                  though the physiological maturity                       only allowing ‘‘A Maturity’’ carcasses.
                                                                                                                                                                  1 While the volume of Choice carcasses added is
                                                  characteristics of ‘‘B’’ or older maturity                The grade composition of the
                                                                                                                                                                large, the existing production of Choice beef is
                                                  groupings may be present. Utilizing the                 carcasses being added by using                        significantly large enough to result is a smaller
                                                  recommendations of dentition and age                    dentition as a measure of age was not                 proportion of Choice added than for Prime and
                                                  verification would allow for an alternate               much different than the grade                         Select.



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                                                                             Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 164 / Wednesday, August 24, 2016 / Notices                                          57879

                                                  influential within the young U.S. grain-                SUMMARY:    The Food Safety and                         Docket: For access to background
                                                  fed cattle population, as the vast                      Inspection Service (FSIS) is announcing               documents or to comments received, go
                                                  majority of cattle presented for grading                the availability of the Agency’s                      to the FSIS Docket Room at Patriots
                                                  in U.S. beef processing facilities are less             compliance guidance on how                            Plaza 3, 355 E Street SW., Room
                                                  than 30 MOA and USDA ‘‘A’’ or ‘‘B’’                     companies can make label or labeling                  164–A, Washington, DC 20250–3700
                                                  maturity. It is important to note that the              claims concerning the fact that                       between 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.,
                                                  population of fed beef cattle in the U.S.               bioengineered or genetically modified                 Monday through Friday.
                                                  has changed significantly over the last                 (GM) ingredients or animal feed were                  FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr.
                                                  several decades. Today, there is greater                not used in the production of meat,                   Daniel L. Engeljohn, Assistant
                                                  consistency within the cattle herd,                     poultry, or egg products. For purposes                Administrator, Office of Policy and
                                                  improved genetics, a relatively young                   of this guidance document, these claims               Program Development; Telephone: (202)
                                                  slaughter population, more widespread                   will be referred to as ‘‘negative claims.’’           205–0495.
                                                  use of growth promoting technologies                    DATES: Comments must be received by
                                                                                                                                                                SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
                                                  that are known to effect bone                           October 24, 2016.
                                                  ossification, and much higher carcass                   ADDRESSES: A downloadable version of                  Background
                                                  weights at slaughter which may also                     the compliance guidance is available to                  FSIS is the public health regulatory
                                                  have skeletal implications. These                       view and print at http://www.fsis.usda.               agency in the USDA that is responsible
                                                  market and production changes, along                    gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/regulatory-                for ensuring that the nation’s
                                                  with recent research, could indicate that               compliance/labeling/claims-guidance/                  commercial supply of meat, poultry,
                                                  physiological maturity is less influential              procedures-nongenetically-engineered-                 and egg products is safe, wholesome,
                                                  on palatability than in the past.                       statement. No hard copies of the                      and accurately labeled and packaged.
                                                  Request for Comments                                    compliance guidance have been                         FSIS develops and implements
                                                                                                          published.                                            regulations and policies to ensure that
                                                    AMS is soliciting comments from                          FSIS invites interested persons to
                                                  stakeholders about whether changes in                                                                         meat, poultry, and egg product labeling
                                                                                                          submit comments on this notice.                       is not false or misleading. Under the
                                                  the methodology for determining                         Comments may be submitted by one of
                                                  maturity grouping assessment for the                                                                          Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA) (21
                                                                                                          the following methods:                                U.S.C. 601–695, at 607), the Poultry
                                                  purposes of official USDA quality                          Federal eRulemaking Portal: This
                                                  grading should be made. This change                                                                           Products Inspection Act (PPIA) (21
                                                                                                          Web site provides the ability to type
                                                  would have no effect on the role that                                                                         U.S.C. 451–470, at 457), and the Egg
                                                                                                          short comments directly into the
                                                  maturity groupings have upon USDA                                                                             Products Inspection Act (21 U.S.C.
                                                                                                          comment field on this Web page or
                                                  quality grade determination, simply                                                                           1031–1056, at 1036) the labels of meat,
                                                                                                          attach a file for lengthier comments. Go
                                                  how carcasses are placed into those                                                                           poultry, and egg products must be
                                                                                                          to http://www.regulations.gov/. Follow
                                                  maturity groupings. AMS also invites                                                                          approved by the Secretary of
                                                                                                          the on-line instructions at that site for
                                                  comments about how those changes                                                                              Agriculture, who has delegated this
                                                                                                          submitting comments.
                                                  would be implemented in the current                        Mail, including CD–ROMs: Send to                   authority to FSIS, before these products
                                                  beef grading system. If, after analyzing                Docket Clerk, U.S. Department of                      can enter commerce.
                                                  the comments, AMS determines that                       Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection               Compliance Guide
                                                  changes are warranted, a notice will be                 Service, Patriots Plaza 3, 1400
                                                                                                                                                                  FSIS is announcing that it has
                                                  published in the Federal Register                       Independence Avenue SW., Mailstop
                                                                                                                                                                developed a compliance guide for
                                                  proposing specific changes to the                       3782, Room 8–163B, Washington, DC
                                                                                                          20250–3700.                                           companies that seek to make label or
                                                  United States Standards for Carcass
                                                                                                             Hand- or courier-delivered submittals:             labeling claims concerning the fact that
                                                  Beef. Interested parties will have an
                                                                                                          Deliver to Patriots Plaza 3, 355 E Street             bioengineered or GM ingredients were
                                                  opportunity to comment prior to a final
                                                                                                          SW., Room 8–163A, Washington, DC                      not used in a meat, poultry or egg
                                                  decision adopting any changes.
                                                                                                          20250–3700.                                           product. This guidance also provides
                                                    Dated: August 19, 2016.                                                                                     information on how companies can
                                                                                                             Instructions: All items submitted by
                                                  Elanor Starmer,                                         mail or electronic mail must include the              make label or labeling claims that a
                                                  Administrator, Agricultural Marketing                   Agency name, docket number FSIS–                      product was produced from livestock or
                                                  Service.                                                2016–0027, and the document title:                    poultry that were not fed bioengineered
                                                  [FR Doc. 2016–20254 Filed 8–23–16; 8:45 am]             Statements that Bioengineered or                      or GM feed. For purposes of this
                                                  BILLING CODE 3410–02–P                                  Genetically Modified (GM) Ingredients                 guidance document, these claims will
                                                                                                          or Animal Feed Were not Used in the                   be referred to as ‘‘negative claims.’’
                                                                                                          Production of Meat, Poultry, or Egg                     FSIS has approved negative claims
                                                  DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE                               Products. Comments received in                        through its prior label approval process.
                                                                                                          response to this docket will be made                  Because FSIS does not have the ability
                                                  Food Safety and Inspection Service                                                                            to independently verify negative claims
                                                                                                          available for public inspection and
                                                  [Docket No. FSIS–2016–0027]                             posted without change, including any                  for ingredients or feed, FSIS has
                                                                                                          personal information, to http://                      required establishments that make these
                                                  Statements That Bioengineered or                        www.regulations.gov.                                  claims to comply with standards
                                                  Genetically Modified (GM) Ingredients                      For additional information about FSIS              established by a third-party certifying
                                                  or Animal Feed Were Not Used in the                     labeling policies and programs,                       organization. FSIS currently requires
mstockstill on DSK3G9T082PROD with NOTICES




                                                  Production of Meat, Poultry, or Egg                     including Generic Label Approval,                     that the third-party certifying
                                                  Products                                                please review the FSIS Web site at:                   organization’s standards be publicly
                                                  AGENCY:  Food Safety and Inspection                     http://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/                  available on a Web site and the label or
                                                  Service, USDA.                                          fsis/topics/regulatory-compliance/                    labeling disclose the Web site address of
                                                                                                          labeling/ or contact the Labeling and                 the third-party certifying organization.
                                                  ACTION: Notice of availability and
                                                                                                          Program Delivery Staff at (301) 504–                  FSIS currently requires that the
                                                  opportunity for comment.
                                                                                                          0878 or (301) 504–0879.                               establishment demonstrate that its


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Document Created: 2016-08-24 03:02:59
Document Modified: 2016-08-24 03:02:59
CategoryRegulatory Information
CollectionFederal Register
sudoc ClassAE 2.7:
GS 4.107:
AE 2.106:
PublisherOffice of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration
SectionNotices
ActionNotice, request for comments.
DatesSubmit comments on or before October 24, 2016.
ContactFor additional information, please contact Bucky Gwartney, International Marketing Specialist, Quality Assessment Division, at [email protected] or (202) 720-1424.
FR Citation81 FR 57877 

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