USA: NCC critical of USDA’s determination of Salmonella as an adulterant

Published 2024년 4월 29일

Tridge summary

The US Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is changing its policy to consider certain raw, breaded, stuffed chicken products adulterated if they test positive for Salmonella, even at low levels, effectively implementing a zero tolerance policy. This policy could impact popular foods like Chicken Kiev and chicken cordon bleu, leading to the loss of over 200 million servings and potentially costing 500 to 1,000 jobs. The National Chicken Council (NCC) has expressed concern about the policy's effectiveness and its potential economic impact, advocating for a science-based approach and stricter regulations on raw material sourcing and processing.

Disclaimer:The above summary was generated by Tridge's proprietary AI model for informational purposes.

Original content

According to the NCC, FSIS will consider not-ready-to-eat, frozen, raw, breaded, stuffed chicken products adulterated if it tests positive for the pathogen at levels as low as 1 CFU (colony forming unit), which is practically a zero tolerance policy that doesn’t consider the impact of cooking the products to a safe temperature. “NCC is gravely concerned that the precedent set by this abrupt shift in longstanding policy has the potential to shutter processing plants, cost jobs, and take safe food and convenient products off shelves,” said NCC President Mike Brown. “We’re also surprised by FSIS’s victory lap here when the agency has no idea if this will move the needle on public health.” Products such as Chicken Kiev and chicken cordon bleu, which are traditionally sold raw and labeled with safe cooking instructions, are included in the determination. According to NCC’s estimates more than 200 million servings of these products will be lost as part of the FSIS determination. ...

Source: Meat+Poultry