
The agency said it is taking its time to roll out these ideas and get input before establishing firm regulations. The government’s goal is to come up with new rules and regulations that could be rolled out beginning next year and completed within two years. 3 to get input from the poultry industry and others. The FSIS will begin a lengthy process of proposing new rules by holding a public hearing on Nov. Meat that would exceed the limits or that would contain the types of salmonella prohibited could be withheld from the market. The third major change would be to establish a maximum level of bacterial contamination allowed and possibly limiting the three specific types of salmonella that can make people sick. Officials hope testing chickens and turkeys before they enter the slaughterhouse will encourage farmers to adopt practices that reduce the bacterial infection on the bird before they reach the point of meat processing.Ī second measure would require enhanced monitoring for salmonella during processing by adopting sampling for the bacteria at multiple stages inside the processing facility.

In an effort to curtail salmonella outbreaks in poultry, the agency is proposing a regulatory framework that would include testing incoming flocks of chickens and turkeys for the bacterial disease that commonly affects the intestinal tract and affects 1.3 million people annually with symptoms that may include diarrhea, nausea and vomiting which could last for several days. coli a contaminant in ground beef and launched a testing program for the pathogen which has significantly reduced illnesses from the meat. In 1994, the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service took a similar step by declaring some strains of E. The agency proposes limiting the presence of these on poultry products.

Their food poisoning target: Of the more than 2,500 salmonella serotypes, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has identified three that cause a third of all human illnesses from chicken and turkey products. The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service wants to do something about it by starting with the farmers that raise the birds and following through the processing plant where the meat is made.

Department of Agriculture on Friday proposed sweeping changes in the way chicken and turkey meat is processed that are intended to reduce illnesses from food contamination but could require meat companies to make extensive changes to their operations.ĭespite decades of efforts to try and reduce illnesses caused by salmonella in food, more than 1 million people are sickened every year and nearly a fourth of those cases come from turkey and chicken meat.Īs it stands, consumers bear much of the responsibility for avoiding illness from raw poultry by handling it carefully in the kitchen - following the usual advice to not wash raw chicken or turkey (it spreads the bacteria), using separate utensils when preparing meat and cooking to 165 degrees.
