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Proposed Rules
Federal Register Vol. 86, No. 40
Wednesday, March 3, 2021

This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER
contains notices to the public of the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service 9 CFR Part 149
Docket No. APHIS20200065
RIN 0579AE59

Elimination of the Voluntary Trichinae Certification Program Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION: Proposed rule.
AGENCY:

We are proposing to eliminate the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service APHIS Voluntary Trichinae Certification Program and remove the regulations associated with the program.
This action would also notify the public that APHIS will no longer maintain any activity associated with the program, such as training for qualified accredited veterinarians, on-farm audits, or any other administrative process associated with program maintenance and support.
We are proposing to eliminate the program because it generates little producer participation. This action would allow APHIS to direct APHIS
resources to areas of greater need.
DATES: We will consider all comments that we receive on or before May 3, 2021.
SUMMARY:

You may submit comments by either of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to www.regulations.gov. Enter APHIS
20200065 in the Search field. Select the Documents tab, then select the Comment button in the list of documents.
Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery:
Send your comment to Docket No.
APHIS20200065, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, APHIS, Station 3A03.8, 4700 River Road, Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 207371238.
Supporting documents and any comments we receive on this docket may be viewed at regulations.gov or in
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ADDRESSES:

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our reading room, which is located in Room 1620 of the USDA South Building, 14th Street and Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC. Normal reading room hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30
p.m., Monday through Friday, except holidays. To be sure someone is there to help you, please call 202 7997039
before coming.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr.
Mara Celia Antognoli, Swine Health Senior Staff Officer, Aquaculture, Swine, Equine and Poultry Health Center, Strategy and Policy, VS, APHIS, 2150 Centre Ave., Bldg. B, Fort Collins, CO 805268117; 970 4947304;
celia.antognoli@usda.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background Trichinella are parasitic nematodes roundworms that are found in many warm-blooded carnivores and omnivores, including swine. There are eight known species of Trichinella nematodes: Trichinella britovi, Trichinella murrelli, Trichinella nativa, Trichinella nelsoni, Trichinella papuae, Trichinella pseudospiralis, Trichinella spiralis, and Trichinella zimbabwensis.
Trichinae is a generic term that refers to all species of Trichinella.
In a final rule 1 published in the Federal Register on October 10, 2008
73 FR 6046360488; Docket No.
APHIS20060089, we established regulations for the Voluntary Trichinae Certification Program by adding 9 CFR
part 149. These regulations provide for the certification of pork production sites that follow certain prescribed management practices that reduce, eliminate, or avoid the risk of exposure of swine to Trichinella spp.
Participation in the program is voluntary. As stated in 149.2, a producers initial enrollment and continued participation in the Trichinae Certification Program requires that the producer adhere to all of the good production practices set out in the regulations, as confirmed by periodic site audits, and comply with other recordkeeping and program requirements provided in part 149.
Producer participation in this voluntary program has decreased since the program began. Only two producers re-enrolled in the past 3 years. The lack 1 To view the final rule and supporting documents, go to http www.regulations.gov/
!docketDetail;D=APHIS-2006-0089.

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of producer interest and involvement has become problematic for a number of reasons. Maintaining the program places demands on limited Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service APHIS
funding and human resources that could be better directed elsewhere. In addition, the existence of a program that producers have little interest in has had trade implications. Trading partners have questioned our ability to certify freedom of trichinae in exported products, given that the vast majority of the products are not produced under the auspices of the Trichinae Certification Program.
We are therefore proposing to eliminate the program by removing part 149 from the regulations. Eliminating this program should benefit the swine industry by reducing possible confusion about the trichinae-free status of exported products. APHIS would also no longer incur the costs associated with program administration and payments to auditors.
Executive Order 12866 and Regulatory Flexibility Act This proposed rule has been determined to be not significant for the purposes of Executive Order 12866 and, therefore, has not been reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget.
In accordance with the Regulatory Flexibility Act, we have analyzed the potential economic effects of this action on small entities. The analysis is summarized below. Copies of the full analysis are available by contacting the person listed under FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT or on the Regulations.gov website see ADDRESSES
above for instructions for accessing Regulations.gov.
APHIS is proposing to eliminate the Voluntary Trichinae Certification Program and remove its associated regulations from title 9 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
Producer participation in the Voluntary Trichinae Certification program has decreased significantly since this voluntary program began in 2007. Only two producers with 23 audit sites re-enrolled in the past 3 years.
Continuation of the voluntary program, given the lack of producer participation, is difficult to justify. Furthermore, a voluntary certification program that does not attract producer participation could negatively affect APHIS and the pork industrys credibility, especially
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