WASHINGTON – Details for their third collaborative public meeting on appropriate food-safety metrics to be held in Portland, Ore. on Oct. 20, were jointly announced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (F.S.I.S.), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Food and Drug Administration (F.D.A.) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (C.D.C.).

Interested stakeholders, which could include members of consumer groups, industry, state and local regulators, and state and local public health agencies, will be able to present information on the measurements they are using or recommend to assess performance in food safety. The agencies are also interested in additional input from participants on their understanding and perceptions of metrics currently being used by the Federal Agencies.

F.S.I.S., F.D.A. and C.D.C. will also present information similar to that presented at the July public meeting in Chicago on the President's Food Safety Working Group's charge to create meaningful metrics to measure progress in reducing illness, harm, and death from contaminated food.

All persons who wish to attend the public meeting, including those requesting an opportunity to make an oral presentation, are urged to register in advance due to limited space.

The location and important deadlines are listed below:

• Sept. 24 is the closing date for requests to make an oral presentation.
• Oct. 8 is the closing date for advance registration and requests for special accommodations due to disability.
• The Oct. 20 public meeting will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Crowne Plaza Portland Downtown, 1441 N.E. Second Ave., Portland, Ore.

The two previous public meetings were held on March 30 in Washington, D.C., and July 21 in Chicago, Ill. Transcripts for the previous meetings, general information, the Federal Register Notice and links to register online and request special accommodations for the upcoming meeting are available at http://www.fsis.usda.gov/News/Meetings_&_Events/index.asp.

Electronic registration is encouraged. Questions regarding registration should be directed to Jodee Warner, EDJ Associates Inc., 11300 Rockville Pike, Suite 1001, Rockville, MD 20852, (240) 221-4296, e-mail: jwarner@edjassociates.com

For general information and requests to make an oral presentation, contact: Juanita Yates, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, F.D.A., (301) 436-1731, e-mail juanita.yates@fda.hhs.gov.