Feds delay poultry testing; expect many operations to fail.

Salmonella and Campylobacter testing was moved from May to July 1. 

Certain poultry producers have a few extra weeks to beef up their pathogen reduction programs, which were scheduled to face new Salmonella and Campylobacter testing beginning in May.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) won’t begin assessing whether poultry operations are meeting new pathogen reduction standards until July 1, according to a recent USDA update. The delay is necessary to allow inspectors additional time to become familiar with new instructions on sampling procedures, the agency reported.

When they do hit the road, the inspectors will be collecting more samples than they did in the past as the FSIS pursues the goal of reducing human illnesses from Salmonella and Campylobacter in “chicken parts and comminuted chicken and turkey products,” according to a Federal Register notice published earlier this year.

Federal officials expect more than half of chicken operations will fail, at least initially.

“FSIS estimates that approximately 63% of raw chicken parts producing establishments, 62% of NRTE (not-ready-to-eat) comminuted chicken producing establishments, and 58% of NRTE comminuted turkey producing establishments will not meet the new Salmonella standards,” the agency stated in the Federal Register.

The expectations for reducing Campylobacter are better. However, FSIS still estimates that 46% of raw chicken parts producing establishments, 24% of NRTE comminuted chicken producing establishments, and 9% of NRTE comminuted turkey producing establishments will not meet the new Campylobacter standards.

Chicken parts and the other poultry products are in the crosshairs because they have historically shown much higher pathogen levels than ground beef or pork chops, FSIS reported.

“Recent research supports that poultry represents the largest fraction of Salmonella and Campylobacter illnesses attributed to FSIS-regulated products,” the Federal Register notice states.

“Furthermore, data from the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS) show that the incidence of Salmonella in poultry products is five to 10 times higher than that in ground beef or pork chops.”

Federal officials cited outbreaks in recent years involving the targeted chicken parts and other poultry products, including two Salmonella outbreaks this past year. Public health officials traced the two 2015 outbreaks to raw, frozen, stuffed chicken entrées from two separate establishments.

Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/food-irradiation-beef-1.3607024