USDA Releases Prosed Framework to Prevent Salmonella Contamination

On July 29^th, USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) released a proposed framework that would prevent some poultry products contaminated with certain levels of salmonella from entering the market.

The proposed final product standards would apply to raw chicken carcasses, chicken parts, ground chicken and ground turkey. Any of these products with salmonella levels at or above 10 colony forming units (CFU) per gram, or milliliter would not be able to enter the market. Additionally, any detectable level of at least one of the salmonella serotypes of public health significance would make a product ineligible for commerce.

FSIS is also proposing to revise the regulations that require that all poultry slaughter establishments develop, implement, and maintain written procedures to prevent contamination by enteric pathogens throughout the entire slaughter and dressing operation to clarify that these procedures must include a microbial monitoring program (MMP) that incorporates statistical process control (SPC) monitoring methods, to require sampling at rehang instead of pre-chill, and to require that all establishments conduct paired sampling at rehang and post-chill.