FSIS Seeks Comments on <EM>Salmonella</EM> Sampling Programs and Activities

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has announced new policies and practices for the Agency's Salmonella verification sampling program and related activities in meat and poultry establishments.

In Feb. 2006, FSIS introduced a comprehensive initiative to reduce the presence of Salmonella in raw meat and poultry products. The initiative includes concentrating resources at establishments with higher levels of Salmonella and changes to the reporting and use of FSIS Salmonella verification test results.

In 2006, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported Salmonella serotypes accounted for 38.6 percent of human foodborne illnesses, making it the most common human foodborne pathogen. FSIS is taking these actions to advance efforts to achieve the agency's public health goal of significantly reducing human cases of salmonellosis. FSIS uses performance standards in establishments that slaughter or produce certain classes of products to measure the effectiveness of industry in controlling the contamination of raw meat and poultry products with disease-causing bacteria.

The agency also recently released first and second quarter results for serotyping of salmonellae from meat and poultry products. 

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) issued the Pathogen Reduction; Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (PR/HACCP) Systems, Final Rule on July 25, 1996: Federal Register, Vol. 61, No. 144, pp. 38805-38989.