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FSIS Seeks Comments on Salmonella Sampling Programs and Activities
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Congressional and Public Affairs
(202) 720-9113
Amanda Eamich
WASHINGTON, Jan. 28, 2008 - The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS)
today 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.
On March 28, 2008, FSIS will post on its Web site completed verification sample set results from establishments in Category 2 or Category 3
beginning with results from young chicken slaughter establishments since there has been an increase in percent positive rates and serotypes
of human health concern found in these products. Category 2 establishments are those with sample set results above half but not exceeding
the current standard for one or both of their most recent sample sets and Category 3 are those that are exceeding the current standards.
Category 1 establishments have the lowest Salmonella rates of the three categories with sample set results at or below half
of the current standards.
On Nov. 16, 2007, FSIS posted the third quarter progress report on Salmonella
testing of selected raw meat and poultry products. This report provides preliminary data for the months July - September 2007 by category
that showed significant success, particularly in raw poultry classes. Eighty-four percent of turkey slaughter establishments are now
Category 1, the other 16 percent are in Category 2. These numbers represent significant improvement from the first quarter of 2007 where
53 percent of establishments were in Category 1, 38 percent in Category 2 and three percent at Category 3. For broilers, the percentage
of establishments in Category 1 is 73 percent and the percentage of establishments in Category 2 is 23 percent. This figure is up by ten
percent from the first quarter of 2007. This is compared with only 35.5 percent of broiler establishments performing in Category 1
after the first quarter of 2006.
Since the Feb. 2006 Notice, FSIS has
developed the Salmonella Initiative Program to offer specific waivers to Category 1 establishments, those performing at half
or less than the current standards, to test new procedures, equipment or processing techniques to facilitate improvements in the ongoing
control of the Salmonella.
Participating establishments must collect samples for microbial analysis on each line during each shift on every day of production. These
additional samples will provide the Agency with key microbial data on attribution of human illness to FSIS-regulated products.
Currently, FSIS schedules approximately 75 new verification sample sets each month for Salmonella in raw products. Under the new
policies, FSIS is restructuring its sampling and testing initiatives. This will include random sampling at all Category 1 establishments to
ensure they are maintaining performance in controlling Salmonella. Additionally, FSIS recognizes that ground beef establishments
producing less than 1,000 pounds of product per day account for a large portion of the sampling selection although they account for a
very small portion of the raw ground beef supply.
To more effectively allocate resources, FSIS plans to reduce the sampling frequency at these establishments and test samples for Salmonella
that are already collected for E. coli O157:H7 sampling. FSIS will identify all sub-groups of raw classes of product not
currently tested in full verification sets. Each sub-group of establishments will be sampled. For example, all ratite or religious-exempt
operations will be identified and sampled, at least quarterly.
In 2007, FSIS signed a cooperative agreement with the USDA's Agricultural Research Service
to ensure that identifying subtype information on Salmonella isolates (PFGE patterns) that FSIS collects is compared with
information about isolates associated with human illness in PulseNet, a database
maintained by the CDC. Sharing subtype information will enable FSIS and other stakeholders to determine which Salmonella serotypes
of human health concern are not only appearing in FSIS-regulated products but are more likely to be associated with cases of human illness.
FSIS will schedule a Food Safety Assessment at any establishment with either a medium or high level of serotypes of human health
concern found in the most recent verification sample set or if an establishment fails a set before it has been completed.
Comments must be received on or before Feb. 27, 2008, through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at
www.regulations.gov, by mail to: Docket Clerk, U.S. Department of Agriculture,
Food Safety and Inspection Service, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Room 2534, South Building, Washington, D.C. 20250, or by e-mail to:
fsis.regulationscomments@fsis.usda.gov.
All comments must identify FSIS and the docket number FSIS-2006-0034. Comments will be available for view on the FSIS Web site at:
https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081025193540/http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Regulations_&_Policies/
2008_Notices_Index/index.asp.
For further information, contact Daniel Engeljohn, Ph.D., Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Office of Policy, Program, and Employee Development,
FSIS, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Room 349-E, South Building, 1400 and Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. 20250-3700,
by phone (202) 205-0495, fax (202) 720-2025, or e-mail
Daniel.engeljohn@fsis.usda.gov.
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Last Modified:
January 28, 2008 |
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