The third meeting of the Processing Center Advisory Committee was held at the Holiday Inn - University Plaza in Springfield, MO.

Jim Boyer chaired the meeting. The following persons attended as participants:

The minutes from the September 24, 1999 meeting were approved as written.

Michael Rector reviewed the QCS auditing activities between January - June and the recommendations for revisions to the CDCB auditing manuals from the Field Service and Laboratory Advisory Committees.

Jerry Steuernagel expressed concerns with deadlines and monitoring compliance of Standard Transfer Format revisions. The decision was made to use the Test Herd data and periodically verify that revisions have been implemented.

The Committee discussed transfer problems between US and Canadian processing centers and Stuart Johnson agreed to contact the Canadians and discuss the use of the STF for data transfers.

Jerry confirmed that all of the processing centers were submitting Test Herd data to the AIPL and that he was getting results for analysis. He recommended that processing centers only be required to submit data needed by USDA for evaluations and that the Committee set acceptable ranges for key criterion.

The decision was made to have Jerry communicate with the AIPL and develop a list of items required by AIPL for Formats 2, 4, and 14. The Committee agreed to review the items at a later date and determine acceptable tolerance ranges.

The Committee also agreed to expand the Test Herd program to include more than one type of test once the auditing procedure development was complete.

Michael noted that an initial certification rate had been established but there was no procedure established for conducting the initial audit. The Committee agreed that new processing centers must be able to run the Test Herds within the acceptable tolerances and provide data in the correct Standard Transfer Formats.

Michael was instructed to get the DMS Committee recommendations from National DHIA so that this Committee could review them and determine if additional requirements should be added.

Michael noted that field service providers had expressed frustration with merging data from various processing centers into a single database or spreadsheet and suggested that a Standard Management Format be developed.
The Committee reviewed a list of items presented and suggested that the Format 14 database items be reviewed to determine if they could meet this need.

Michael was selected to draft the minutes of the meeting and the Committee agreed to discuss the Test Herd variables during a conference call in late September.

Respectfully Submitted,
Michael Rector
QCS President

Back To Top