Tentative Voluntary Poultry Grade Standards

SUMMARY: The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is announcing that it

is approving the test marketing of USDA grade identified raw, ready-to-

cook, boneless-skinless poultry products, based on tentative grade

standards.

DATES: This test-market period begins June 12, 1995 and ends June 12,

1996.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Larry W. Robinson, Chief, Grading

Branch, Poultry Division, 202-720-3271.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

Poultry grading is a voluntary program provided under the

Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946, as amended (7 U.S.C. 1621 et seq.),

and is offered on a fee-for-service basis. It is designed to assist the

orderly marketing of poultry products. Quality in practical terms

refers to the usability, desirability, and value of a product, as well

as its marketability. Poultry grade standards identify and measure

degrees of quality in poultry products. They permit important quality

attributes to be evaluated uniformly and accurately; they provide a way

for buyers and sellers to negotiate using a common language.

Once poultry has been graded according to these standards, it may

be identified with the USDA grademark. Over the years, processors have

found it advantageous to market grade-identified poultry products and

consumers have come to rely on the USDA grademark as assurance that

they are getting the quality they want.

Poultry producers and processors are continually developing new,

innovative products. Chicken and turkey, in particular, have been

transformed into numerous boneless and/or skinless products, thus

increasing poultry's share of the consumer's food dollar and responding

to consumer demand for food with more built-in convenience and less

fat. Current regulations (7 CFR part 70) provide grade standards for

boneless poultry breasts, thighs, and tenderloins (Sec. 70.231), as

well as for skinless carcasses and parts (Sec. 70.232). In addition, on

March 30, 1995, the Agency approved the test marketing of USDA grade-

identified, boneless/skinless poultry legs and drumsticks, based on

tentative grade standards, through April 1, 1996 (60 FR 16428).

The Agency has now been requested by industry to permit the grade

identification of raw, ready-to-cook, boneless-skinless poultry

products without added ingredients. These products include poultry that

has been reduced in size by cutting, slicing, cubing, or similar means

and products that are currently marketed ungraded because there are no

grade standards for them.

The Agency recognizes that before new standards of quality can be

established or current standards of quality can be amended, appropriate

investigation is needed. This includes the test marketing of

experimental packs of grade-identified poultry products to determine

production requirements and consumer acceptance, and to permit the

collection of other necessary data. Current regulations (Sec. 70.3)

provide the Agency with the flexibility needed to permit such

experimentation, so that new procedures and grading techniques may be

tested.

The Agency has worked in partnership with members of the industry

to develop tentative grade standards for raw, ready-to-cook, boneless-

skinless poultry products without added ingredients and is granting

permission for a 1-year test marketing period. At the expiration of

this 1-year period, the Agency will then evaluate the test results to

determine if the current poultry grading regulations should be amended,

through notice-and-comment rulemaking, to include the following

tentative standards.

Tentative Grade Standards for Ready-to-cook, Boneless-skinless Poultry

Products Without Added Ingredients--A Quality

1. The raw, ready-to-cook, boneless-skinless poultry products

without added ingredients must be labeled in accordance with 9 CFR part

381.

2. The poultry product must be derived from ready-to-cook carcasses

or parts.

3. The skin and bones shall be removed in a neat manner without

undue mutilation of adjacent muscle.

4. The poultry products may be further processed and subdivided by

cutting, slicing, cubing, or similarly reducing the size prior to

grading. Individual subdivided pieces of poultry must be of sufficient,

and relatively uniform, size and shape to determine grade with respect

to the quality factors set forth in this section.

5. The poultry products shall be free of cartilage, tendons

extending more than \1/2\ inch beyond the meat tissue, blood clots,

bruises, and discolorations other than slight discolorations, provided

they do not detract from the appearance of the product.

6. Trimming and minor flesh abrasions due to preparation techniques

are permitted provided they result in a relatively smooth outer surface

with no angular cuts, tears, holes, or undue muscle mutilation in the

meat portion.

Dated: June 6, 1995.

Lon Hatamiya,

Administrator.

[FR Doc. 95-14279 Filed 6-9-95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410-02-P