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USDA finalizes new food safety standards for poultry
The Agriculture Department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, or FSIS, announced that new federal standards have been finalized that will reduce Salmonella and Campylobacter in ground chicken and turkey products. As part of its plan, the FSIS has updated its microbial testing schedule at poultry facilities and will begin to provide online updates of individual companies’ food safety performance.
The FSIS predicts that these new standards will prevent an average of 50,000 foodborne illnesses annually.
Thomas J. Vilsack
“Over the past 7 years, USDA has put in place tighter and more strategic food safety measures than ever before for meat and poultry products,” Agriculture Secretary Thomas J. Vilsack, JD, said in a press release. “We have made strides in modernizing every aspect of food safety inspection, from company record-keeping, to labeling requirements, to the way we perform testing in our labs. These new standards, in combination with greater transparency about poultry companies’ food safety performance and better testing procedures, will help prevent tens of thousands of foodborne illnesses every year.”
In 1996, the FSIS implemented pathogen reduction performance standards for whole chickens, the release said. Since then, the FSIS has learned that Salmonella levels increase as chicken is separated into parts. This is important because poultry parts, such as breasts and wings, constitute 80% of chicken available for purchase in the United States. In addition, about 1.2 million foodborne illnesses are caused by Salmonella each year, with one-third of these illnesses attributed to FSIS-regulated products.
In 2013, the FSIS released its Salmonella Action Plan, which created the blueprint to address this pathogen. In early 2015, the FSIS proposed new standards for chicken products, stricter standards for ground poultry, and a regulatory test at a time closer to the final product. After proposing its new standards, the FSIS began routine sampling throughout the year to assess whether companies were effectively addressing potential contamination of Salmonella and Campylobacter.
Once each company completes a full set of the new standards, the FSIS will post online the companies that pass or fail testing. As a result of these implementations, the FSIS predicts that it will reduce consumer illnesses by 30% for Salmonella, 32% for Campylobacter coming from chicken parts and ground chicken, and 19% from Campylobacter coming from ground turkey.
Alfred V. Almanza
“This approach to poultry inspection is based on science, supported by strong data, and will truly improve public health,” Alfred V. Almanza, deputy under secretary for food safety, said in the release. “The new performance standards will complement the many other proactive, prevention-based food policies that we’ve put in place in recent years to make America’s supply of meat and poultry safer to eat.”
Disclosures: Almanza and Vilsack are federal appointees.