USDA proposes reducing salmonella in raw poultry
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), issued a comprehensive proposed rule and determination, to more effectively reduce Salmonella contamination and illnesses associated with raw poultry products. This is the culmination of FSIS’ three-year effort, to re-evaluate their strategy for controlling Salmonella rates in poultry and protect American consumers, from foodborne illness linked to consumption of poultry products.
Salmonella bacteria cause over 1 million human infections in the United States, each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Food is the leading source of Salmonella infections and poultry is among the leading sources of foodborne Salmonella illnesses.
The FSIS estimates that there are 125,000 chicken-associated and almost 43,000 turkey-associated foodborne Salmonella illnesses, per year. Despite FSIS data indicating that Salmonella contamination in poultry products has decreased, there has not been an observed reduction in Salmonella illnesses.
“Far too many consumers become sick from poultry contaminated with Salmonella and today’s announcement marks a historic step forward to combat this threat,” said agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack. “This proposed framework is a systematic approach to addressing Salmonella contamination at poultry slaughter and processing, which includes enforceable standards that will result in safer food for consumers and fewer illnesses.”
The proposal would establish final product standards to prevent raw chicken carcasses, chicken parts, ground chicken and ground turkey products that contain any type of Salmonella at, or above, 10 colony forming units (CFU), per gram/ml, and any detectable level of at least one of the Salmonella serotypes of public health significance from entering commerce.
“The proposed Salmonella framework is grounded in data and rigorous scientific evaluation, and it reflects feedback from extensive stakeholder engagement,” said USDA Under Secretary for Food Safety Dr. Emilio Esteban. “We encourage all interested stakeholders to submit comments and relevant data on the proposal, as we work to finalize data-driven, science-based regulatory policies to address Salmonella in poultry.”
Comments may be submitted online, via the federal eRulemaking portal, available at regulations.gov; by mail, at: Docket Clerk, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Mailstop 3758, Washington, D.C. 20250-3700. All items submitted by mail or electronic mail, must include the agency name and docket number FSIS-2023-0028.
