Food Ingredients and Sources of Radiation Listed and Approved for Use in the Production of Meat and Poultry Products

The Final rule will be effective May 6, 2013.

                    

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is amending the Federal meat and poultry products inspection regulations to remove sodium benzoate, sodium propionate, and benzoic acid from the list of substances that the regulations prohibit for use in meat or poultry products.

New uses of these substances in meat or poultry products will continue to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for safety and by FSIS for suitability. FSIS will add approved uses of these substances to the list of approved substances contained in the Agency’s directive system.

The proposed rule also explained that, under FSIS’s regulations, certain antimicrobial substances are prohibited for use in meat or poultry products because these substances have the potential to conceal damage or inferiority when used at certain levels (9CFR 424.23(a)(3)). Among these

substances are potassium sorbate, propylparaben (propyl phydroxybenzoate), calcium propionate,

sodium propionate, benzoic acid, and sodium benzoate.

In 2006, Kraft Foods Global, Inc. petitioned FSIS to amend the Federal meat and poultry products inspection regulations to permit the use of sodium benzoate and sodium propionate as acceptable antimicrobial agents that may be used in combination with other approved ingredients to inhibit the growth of Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) in ready-to-eat (RTE) meat and poultry products. On July 26, 2010, Kemin Food Technologies petitioned FSIS to amend the regulations to permit the use of liquid sodium propionate and liquid sodium benzoate as acceptable antimicrobial agents in meat and poultry.

Source: Regulations.gov http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=FSIS-2011-0018-0022