Public Meeting Will Address Listeria Initiatives

May 9, 2000

USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service will hold a public meeting May 15 to discuss initiatives on listeria monocytogenes. FSIS will discuss the agency’s plans to protect the public from food-borne illnesses associated with listeria.

Also, the meeting will be open to discussion on the public health impact of food-borne listeria contamination; a review of what establishments have done since a May 1999 notice to reassess hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) plans to ensure they adequately address listeria; revised instructions to be issued to field employees regarding testing and sampling of ready-to-eat products; a petition received by FSIS from the Center for Science in the Public Interest; consumer education about listeria and research on listeria.

The meeting will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 15 at the Holiday Inn, 415 New Jersey Ave., NW, Washington, DC. Contact Mary Harris at (202) 501-7136 to register or to schedule a presentation.