FSIS Publishes Revised Food Safety Guideline for Egg Products

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) published a revised Food Safety Guideline for Egg Products on May 5. Revisions address questions the agency received after publishing previous guidance in 2020 and include additional scientific information.

Updates include guidance on plant support for sanitation standard operating procedures including less-than-daily sanitation. The agency also added Bacillus cereus as an example of a potential hazard in egg products that undergo enzyme modification and included a section on cooking egg products in lieu of pasteurization.

Other updates include revised language, structure and formatting to improve readability, said FSIS.

The guideline contains information that aims to assist plants producing egg products that undergo pasteurization, heat treatment, cooling, freezing or enzyme-modification in complying with FSIS regulatory requirements, the agency said.

FSIS invites interested stakeholders to submit comments on the guideline via one of the following methods by July 6:

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: This website provides commenters with the ability to type short comments directly into the comment field on the web page or to attach a file for lengthier comments. Go to https://www.regulations.gov and follow the site’s instructions for submitting comments.
• Mail: Send to Docket Clerk, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service, 1400 Independence Avenue SW, Mailstop 3758, Washington, D.C. 20250-3700.
• Hand- or Courier-Delivered Submittals: Deliver to 1400 Independence Avenue SW, Jamie L. Whitten Building, Room 350-E, Washington, D.C. 20250-3700.

For more information, contact April Regonlinski, assistant administrator, Office of Policy and Program Development, FSIS, at (202) 205-0495.