Reducing salmonella infections
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) wants to reduce salmonella diseases caused by the consumption of poultry. To this end, it has now submitted a regulatory proposal for the processing of raw poultry products with its affiliated Food Safety Administration (FSIS).
This followed a re-evaluation of the previous strategy to control salmonella contamination in poultry.
Infections caused by chicken and turkey meat
FSIS estimates that there are 125,000 serious salmonella infections annually in the U.S. from chicken products and nearly 43,000 serious salmonella infections from turkey products. While data shows that contamination of poultry products with these pathogens has decreased, the agency says there has been no decline in the incidence of salmonella disease.
As Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said, far too many consumers are sickened by salmonella-contaminated poultry, and today's announcement is an important step in combating this threat.
More stringent limits on the presence of salmonella
The proposal provides for the establishment of standards for the final product. The aim is to prevent raw chicken or turkey products from entering the market containing salmonella in concentrations greater than nine colony-forming units (CFU) per gram, as well as a serotype that has been shown to be hazardous to health.
The proposal also requires poultry farms to develop a microbiological monitoring program to prevent pathogen contamination throughout the slaughter system.
