New Salmonella Policy From USDA
January 30th, 2008 joshua
The USDA is announcing new policies and practices for its salmonella verification sampling program at poultry slaughterhouses, the industry Web site WorldPoultry.net reports.
Two years ago salmonella was the most commonly diagnosed human food borne illness, according to numbers accumulated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2006, salmonella accounted for 38.6 percent of human food borne illness.
The changes mentioned in the article include the online publication of completed verification sample set results for establishments that show inconsistency to meet salmonella performance standards.
Also, “a voluntary incentive-based program for poultry establishments that should yield significant data on attribution of human illness to FSIS-regulated products.”
And finally, the report lists another step the FSIS aims to take as “Increasing the agency’s use of targeted sampling approaches and collaborative serotype and subtype data.”
The agency is reporting better numbers toward the end of 2007 in regard to salmonellosis counts at slaughterhouse facilities.












