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

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. ...