USDA proposes limits on salmonella bacteria in raw poultry products

After three years of study, the Agriculture Department proposed limits on salmonella contamination of raw chicken and turkey products on Monday with an emphasis on the types of salmonella bacteria mostly likely to cause illness. Consumer groups said the proposal, modeled on a 1994 USDA ban on the most dangerous types of E. coli bacteria in ground beef, was a large step forward for public health.

“The proposal is one of the greatest advances in food safety in a generation,” said the Center for Science in the Public Interest. The Consumer Federation of America said the USDA proposal “sets safety standards where they matter to consumers; on poultry products themselves rather than on the establishments that process the birds.” The current safety system calls for processors to implement plans to avoid the contamination of poultry meat in the plant but allows sale of products containing salmonella.

Contaminated food is the number one cause of salmonella infections in the United States, and poultry is one of the leading sources of food-borne salmonella illnesses. Although the presence of salmonella bacteria in poultry products has been declining, there has been no reduction in salmonella illnesses, said the USDA. It estimates there are 125,000 cases of salmonella illnesses related to chicken and nearly 43,000 illnesses related to turkey annually.

“This proposed framework is a systemic approach to addressing salmonella contamination at poultry slaughter and processing, which includes enforceable standards that will result in safer food for consumers and fewer illnesses,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “Far too many consumers become sick from poultry contaminated with salmonella, and today’s announcement marks a historic step forward to combat this threat.”

Under the USDA proposal, raw whole chickens, chicken parts, ground chicken, and ground turkey products would be barred from sale if they contain 10 or more colony forming units per gram of salmonella bacteria and any amount of three disease-causing salmonella serotypes apiece for chicken and turkey.

Poultry processors also would be required to develop a microbial monitoring program to prevent pathogen contamination during slaughter.

Trade groups for the broiler chicken and turkey industries questioned the scientific basis for the USDA regulation and warned it might drive up costs.

“We support changes in food safety regulations that are based on sound science, robust data, and are demonstrated to positively impact public health. We are concerned this proposal is not based on any of those,” said Ashley Peterson, in charge of regulatory affairs at the National Chicken Council, a trade group. “It also has the potential to significantly raise the price of chicken at a time when Americans are dealing with inflation in every part of their lives.”

The National Turkey Federation said USDA’s meat safety agency, the Food Safety and Inspection Service, already had the power “to drive improvements in food safety without implementing a final product standard for salmonella in turkey products.”

In April, the USDA issued a regulation, with a one-year grace period, that would reject raw chicken as an ingredient in breaded, stuffed chicken products if it contained too much salmonella. It was the first USDA rule to name salmonella as an adulterant in a class of raw poultry products.

Americans are forecast to consume 117.1 pounds of chicken and turkey meat per person this year, slightly more than the amount of red meats they are forecasted to consume, which includes 58.2 pounds of beef and 51 pounds of pork.