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January 9, 2026
FSIS Announces Leadership Changes
FSIS is announcing strategic leadership changes that reflect the agency’s goal of ensuring representation, collaboration and accountability at the most senior level of the agency.
Mr. Robert Bane will be joining FSIS’ Office of the Administrator as Deputy Administrator of Field Operations, serving alongside Deputy Administrator Dr. Denise Eblen, who will focus on FSIS’ science and policy work. Bane brings decades of experience and expertise to this position and has served in several leadership positions within FSIS. Most recently, he was Executive Associate for Regulatory Operations within the Office of Field Operations (OFO) and prior to this was Assistant Administrator of the Office of Investigation, Enforcement and Audit. Bane will continue working from the Springdale District Office.
Additional leadership changes were made in OFO, the Office of Management (OM), and the Office of Public Affairs and Consumer Education (OPACE). Ms. Melissa Moore has been named Assistant Administrator of OFO, Ms. Natalie Duncan has assumed the role of Assistant Administrator of OM, and Ms. Karen Hunter has transitioned from her role as Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator of OFO to become the Assistant Administrator of OPACE. The FSIS website will soon be updated with this information.
Practical Strategies to Reduce Salmonella in Poultry Products; Submit Comments by Feb. 2
Registration to attend the FSIS Public Meeting on January 14, 2026, closed on January 7. Written comments may be submitted by February 2, 2026. More details are available in the Federal Register notice. An updated agenda is now available on the event page Public Meeting: Exploring Practical Strategies to Reduce Salmonella in Poultry Products. A final agenda and additional resources will be available on this page after the meeting.
Reminder: FSIS to Onboard Singapore in PHIS Export Component
As announced in the September 12, 2025, Constituent Update, all FSIS meat and poultry product export certificates for products exported to Singapore will be generated, issued and officially maintained in FSIS’ Public Health Information System (PHIS) starting on January 12, 2026. This change excludes certificates for casings and egg products. The PHIS Industry Test Environment for Singapore became available for testing on September 29, 2025.
View the September 12 Constituent Update article for more details and contact PHISImportExport@usda.gov with questions regarding these changes. Technical questions can be directed to PHISTechnicalQA@usda.gov.
FSIS Posted Updated Datasets
On January 2, 2026, FSIS updated the individual establishment Salmonella performance standard category information for raw poultry carcasses, raw chicken parts, and comminuted poultry products on the Salmonella Verification Testing Program Monthly Posting page on the FSIS website. Additionally, FSIS posted the aggregate sampling results showing the number of establishments in categories 1, 2, or 3 for establishments producing young poultry carcasses, raw chicken parts, or not ready-to-eat comminuted poultry products at the location linked above.
The following datasets and reports were also updated:
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Quarterly establishment-specific laboratory sampling datasets:
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- Raw Poultry Product Sampling
- Egg Product Sampling
- Raw Beef Product Sampling
- Ready-to-Eat Product Sampling
- Raw Pork Product Sampling
- National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System, "NARMS," Cecal Sampling Data
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Quarterly establishment-specific datasets on inspection tasks:
- Livestock Humane Handling Inspection Tasks
- Poultry Good Commercial Practices Inspection Tasks
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Quarterly Sampling Results: The quarterly sampling report was updated to include results through the fourth quarter of fiscal year (FY) 2025. Quarterly, FSIS calculates prevalence, volume weighted percent positive, or percent positive calculations for microbial pathogens in FSIS regulated products that are currently sampled through existing sampling projects using the prior 12 months of sampling data.
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Quarterly Sampling Reports for Salmonella Serotype Information: The quarterly sampling report for Salmonella serotype information was updated to include results through the third quarter of FY2025. This post includes quarterly Salmonella serotype data for Salmonella isolates collected from FSIS product categories.
Upcoming Events
Available for Public Comment
FSIS seeks public comments on proposed rules and notices, which are viewable on the FSIS Federal Register & Rulemaking webpage. FSIS is currently seeking comments on the following:
Policy Update
FSIS notices and directives on public health and regulatory issues are available on the FSIS Policy webpage. The following policy updates were recently issued:
Export Requirements Update
The Library of Export Requirements has been updated for products for the following:
- Hong Kong
- North Macedonia
- Japan
- Canada
- Australia
- Chile
- Mexico
- Cuba
- Jamaica
- Kuwait
- Dominican Republic
- Ukraine
- European Union
- Taiwan
- South Africa
- Turkey
- Azerbaijan
- Costa Rica
- St. Lucia
- Nicaragua
Complete information can be found at the FSIS Import & Export Library.
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