Permission To Use Air Inflation of Meat Carcasses and Parts

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is amending the Federal meat inspection regulations to provide that establishments that slaughter livestock or prepare livestock carcasses and parts may inflate carcasses and parts with air if they develop, implement, and maintain written controls to ensure that the procedure does not cause insanitary conditions or adulterate the product. FSIS is requiring establishments to incorporate these controls into their Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) plans or Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (Sanitation SOPs) or other prerequisite programs. In addition, FSIS is amending its regulations to remove the approved methods for inflating livestock carcasses and parts by air and to remove the requirement that establishments submit requests to FSIS for approval of air inflation procedures not listed in the regulations. FSIS is also adding a paragraph in the regulations to make clear that the current prohibition against injecting compressed air into the skulls of cattle remains in force.