Pointing to the tens of thousands of salmonella illnesses linked to poultry products each year, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said on Tuesday that the USDA would mobilize “a stronger and more comprehensive effort” to reduce the risk of the disease-causing bacteria in raw poultry meat. The process could include pilot projects that encourage “pre-harvest controls” on the farm, an area not directly under USDA jurisdiction.
Consumption of chicken and turkey is estimated to be the cause of 23 percent of the more than 1 million cases of salmonella-caused illnesses among Americans annually.
Consumer groups, processors, and the poultry industry applauded the USDA initiative. “To achieve better results, USDA must transform and strengthen its standards,” said the newly formed Coalition for Poultry Safety Reform. “Food safety should extend from farm to fork.” The coalition said the USDA also needed a plan for campylobacter, another bacteria that causes food-borne illness.
“Far too many consumers become ill every year from poultry contaminated by salmonella,” said Vilsack. “We need to be constantly evolving in our efforts to stay one step ahead of the bad bugs.”
At present the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) tests to determine whether salmonella bacteria is present on a particular piece of poultry meat. Now it will consider incorporating bacterial loads into its monitoring system. It will also focus on the salmonella serotypes and virulence factors that pose the greatest risk.
“Time has shown that our current policies are not moving us closer to our public health goal” of a 25 percent reduction in salmonella-caused illnesses, said USDA deputy undersecretary Sandra Eskin, who oversees food safety programs. One of the USDA’s top priorities is the reduction in salmonella infections linked to poultry, she said. “It’s time to rethink our approach.”
The USDA said it would seek feedback from processors, consumers, producers, and other interested parties on specific salmonella control and measurement strategies, including pilot projects to test the ideas. “A key component of this approach is encouraging pre-harvest controls to reduce salmonella contamination coming into the slaughterhouse,” it said. Data generated by pilot projects will help determine any changes to USDA salmonella regulations.
A series of roundtables to gather stakeholder feedback will be announced in coming weeks, said the FSIS. In response to a question about pre-harvest controls, the agency said it was “hoping to explore how the use of pre-harvest interventions (e.g., vaccines and probiotics) could be taken into account in FSIS inspection activities.”
Rates of salmonella and campylobacter illness “have remained persistently high for the past 20 years,” said the poultry safety coalition. While USDA rules have reduced the prevalence of salmonella bacteria in poultry meat, “the performance standard method is not producing the desired public health outcomes” of fewer illnesses, it said.
Although the USDA cannot regulate safety practices on the farm, a modernized system of identifying and reducing the risk of bacterial contamination “should address risk reduction across the full production process, from raw material to finished packaging, including defining the responsibility of poultry processors to consider pre-harvest practices and interventions,” said the coalition. “The plans should also verify that suppliers of live birds have implemented scientifically appropriate risk-reduction measures.”
Members of the coalition include four consumer and environmental groups, food safety scientists, and four large poultry processors.
“We pledge to continue to do our part — the industry will remain committed to investing significant resources — at the hatchery, feed mill, farm, and plant — to further enhance the safety profile of chicken products,” said the National Chicken Council. The poultry industry trade group said consumer education was important, too. “There is still the possibility of illness if a raw product is improperly handled or cooked.”
In an Oct. 5 speech, Eskin said, “We will be casting a wide and inclusive net in thinking about potential paths forward and considering a systems-based approach to salmonella control with multiple, complementary control points.” She said that “most salmonella contamination enters the facility with the birds. … Even though FSIS does not have direct regulatory authority on the farm, we are thinking about how we can factor in the use of pre-harvest interventions at the point where FSIS jurisdiction begins, which is when the birds are presented for slaughter.”