The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) oversees the United States National Residue Program (NRP) for meat, poultry and egg products in partnership with the Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency as well as with the support of other federal agencies. In 2012, FSIS announced significant enhancements to the NRP including the implementation of multi-analytic methods to analyze veterinary drugs and pesticides and a new sampling scheme to better evaluate chemical hazard exposure. These changes are the foundation for the additional improvements FSIS is making to the current framework to identify, prioritize, and manage chemical hazards identified in FSIS-regulated products. This symposium will outline what has occurred to date within the NRP, including laboratory developments which enable FSIS to gain more information about a single sample as well as the chemical exposure of a herd or flock represented by that sample. Going forward, FSIS will rely even more on FDA and EPA to communicate information on emerging and remerging chemical hazards as well as on academic research exploring the possibilities of known or unexpected exposure. This symposium is an important step towards introducing an area not traditionally addressed at the IAFP and continuing the dialogue and relationship FSIS has with experts possessing knowledge of chemical hazards and food safety.

Presentations