The government proposed tougher standards on disease-causing bacteria in chicken and turkey meat, saying the result would be 50,000 fewer cases a year of food-borne illnesses. A final version of the regulation, which focuses on salmonella and campylobacter bacteria, is expected by springtime. The proposed rule would require poultry processors to reduce bacterial contamination of ground poultry meat and chicken parts so the illness rate for salmonella drops by 30 percent and for campylobacter by 19 to 37 percent.
In 1996, USDA began pathogen performance standards for whole chickens but learned that salmonella rates increase as chicken is cut into parts such as breasts, wings and legs. Poultry parts account for 80 percent of chicken for sale on the retail market. “By creating a standard for chicken parts and by performing regulatory testing at a point closer to the final product, (we) can greatly reduce consumer exposure to salmonella and campylobacter,” said USDA.
“Pathogen rates on poultry parts and ground poultry are way too high,” said the Consumer Federation of America, which applauded the USDA proposal as a way to protect consumers. CFA said the USDA proposal would set the first-ever salmonella and campylobacter standards for poultry parts and ground poultry. USDA tests found salmonella on 24 percent and campylobacter on 22 percent of raw chicken parts, it said. “These new performance standards will help improve the safety of the products that consumers are most frequently purchasing and consuming.”
A poultry industry group, the National Chicken Council, said processors have explored since fall 2013 “options to reduce contamination on chicken parts…including strengthened sanitation programs, temperature controls and various interventions in chicken processing” in preparation for the standards.
The Federal Register notice of the proposed regulation is available here. There is a 60-day comment period. An infographic and a blog post by USDA about the proposed rule is available here.