U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)'s recent announcement that it will begin testing for and regulating certain levels of salmonella in breaded and stuffed raw chicken is aimed at reducing poultry-borne illness, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a news release.
USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) now will treat salmonella as an "adulterant" in breaded and stuffed raw chicken products, the department said in a news release on Monday, Aug. 1.
U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack
| usda.gov/
"Food safety is at the heart of everything FSIS does," Vilsack said. "That mission will guide us as this important first step launches a broader initiative to reduce salmonella illnesses associated with poultry in the U.S."
Declaring salmonella an adulterant means FSIS now can ensure that breaded and stuffed raw chicken products found to be "highly contaminated" enough to make people sick will not be sold to consumers, the news release said.
USDA's announcement "is an important moment in U.S. food safety because we are declaring salmonella an adulterant in a raw poultry product," USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety Sandra Eskin said in the news release. "This is just the beginning of our efforts to improve public health."
FSIS also is seeking public comments about the service's standard allowable amount of salmonella, its final implementation plan and a verification testing program.
"When the proposal is finalized, FSIS will announce its final implementation plans and the date it will begin routine testing for salmonella in these products," the news release said.
Breaded and stuffed raw chicken, commonly found in grocery store freezer sections and chicken cordon bleu, chicken Kiev and similar products, have been associated with up to 14 outbreaks and about 200 illnesses since 1998. These products often are heat-treated enough to set the batter or breading while raw poultry remains.
"Continual efforts to improve the product labeling have not been effective at reducing consumer illnesses," the news release said.
USDA announced last October a strategy reevaluation for controlling salmonella in poultry. USDA has been considering whether salmonella should be considered an adulterant in specific raw chicken products and, as part of that effort, has gathered information from industry stakeholders, seeking recommendations from food safety experts and asking for ideas about pilot projects. The latter has been about how best to "test drive" various control strategies in the industry, the more recent news release said.
This coming October, USDA expects to present a proposed framework for a new comprehensive strategy aimed at salmonella illness reduction and then convene a public meeting the following month.
