USDA Propose New Plan to Reduce Salmonella in Raw Poultry

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The USDA‘s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) recently introduced a detailed plan to better reduce Salmonella contamination and related illnesses in raw poultry products. This proposal is the result of a three-year effort by FSIS to improve their approach to controlling Salmonella in poultry. The proposal also sets out to better protect American consumers from food-borne illnesses caused by eating poultry.

Salmonella bacteria infect over 1 million people in the United States every year, according to the CDC. Food is the main way people get these infections, with poultry being one of the top sources. Furthermore, the FSIS estimates that about 125,000 cases come from chicken and nearly 43,000 from turkey each year. Even though the FSIS reports that Salmonella in poultry products is going down, the number of Salmonella illnesses hasn’t decreased.

“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.”

Proposed Salmonella protection framework

The proposal aims to set standards to prevent raw chicken and turkey products that have high levels of Salmonella (10 CFU per gram/ml or more) or any dangerous types of Salmonella from being sold. Specifically, the types of Salmonella that would be targeted for raw chicken are Enteritidis, Typhimurium, and I,4,[5],12:I:-. For raw turkey, they are Hadar, Typhimurium, and Muenchen. The proposal would also require poultry plants to create a program to both monitor and prevent contamination by harmful bacteria during the slaughter process.

“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.”

Since 2021, FSIS initiated several activities designed to gather data and information to inform the framework proposed rule and determination. These activities included:

• Charging the National Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Food to provide guidance on the types of microbiological criteria the agency might use to better prevent Salmonella infections associated with poultry products.
• Conducting a risk profile for pathogenic Salmonella subtypes in poultry and also developing two quantitative risk assessments.
• Hosting a public meeting and several roundtables.
• Conducting an exploratory sampling program for young chicken carcasses to generate microbial data and adding quantification to FSIS’ Salmonella testing program.

Updated Proposal

FSIS published a final determination to declare Salmonella an adulterant in raw breaded stuffed chicken products when they exceed the threshold of 1 CFU per gram of Salmonella contamination. FSIS also announced this year a final rule allowing the voluntary “Product of USA” claim to be applied only to those FSIS-regulated products that are derived from animals born, raised, slaughtered and processed in the United States.

Comments on this proposal must be received within 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.

Comments may be submitted online via the federal eRulemaking portal, available at www.regulations.gov; by mail sent to Docket Clerk, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service, 1400 Independence Avenue SW, Mailstop 3758, Washington, D.C. 20250-3700, or by hand or courier delivery to 1400 Independence Avenue SW, Jamie L. Whitten Building, Room 350-E, Washington, D.C. 20250-3700. All items submitted by mail or electronic mail must include the agency name and docket number FSIS-2023-0028.