The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has reversed its proposals aimed at implementing enforcement measures designed to reduce the incidence of salmonella in poultry.
Yesterday, on April 24, the USDA, through its Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), announced that it requires “further assessment of its approach for tackling salmonella illnesses associated with poultry products” after receiving extensive feedback.
Back in August, the FSIS proposed new standards for poultry products to address salmonella levels and serotypes in raw chicken carcasses, chicken parts, and comminuted products, including chicken and turkey. Moreover, it sought to mandate that all poultry slaughterhouses implement procedures to prevent meat contamination by enteric pathogens.
In yesterday’s announcement, the USDA stated that it “determined that additional consideration is needed in light of the feedback received during the public comment period,” which ended on January 17.
The FSIS noted that it received 7,089 comments from a diverse array of stakeholders, including trade associations from the poultry and meat industries, both small and large poultry producers and processors, as well as consumer advocacy organizations.
A significant topic of debate among these comments focused on the FSIS’s “legal authority to propose the final product standards.”
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) opposed the decision to withdraw the proposal. According to Sarah Sorscher, the CSPI’s director of regulatory affairs, this decision “will let poultry processors continue to ship raw chicken and turkey even after products test positive for high levels of the most dangerous strains of salmonella.”
She emphasized, “Salmonella is a leading cause of food poisoning, sickening more than a million people annually, resulting in over 26,000 hospitalizations and approximately 420 deaths. Notably, one in six salmonella infections indicates some level of antimicrobial resistance.”
“Make no mistake: shipping more salmonella to restaurants and grocery stores is certain to make Americans sicker,” she added.
In contrast, the National Chicken Council, an industry trade association, praised the plan’s withdrawal. They argued that the proposal “was legally unsound; relied on misinterpretations of the science; would have had no meaningful impact on public health; would have led to an extraordinary amount of food waste; and would have increased costs for producers and consumers.”
Ashley Peterson, the senior vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs at the Council, stated, “We remain committed to further reducing salmonella and fully support food safety regulations and policies that are based on sound science, robust data, and demonstrated to meaningfully impact public health.”
“We look forward to collaborating with the Agency on approaches that build on the industry’s substantial progress in reducing salmonella in chicken products through policy grounded in scientific evidence, implementable strategies, and demonstrable public health outcomes,” she added.
Prior to the proposals being tabled last year, the USDA cited statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, indicating that over one million illnesses are caused by salmonella bacteria in the US each year, with poultry being the primary source.