The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of Food Safety (OFS) and the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) have released a plan to decrease Salmonella, one of the leading causes of foodborne illnesses. The Roadmap to Reducing Salmonella: Driving Change through Science-Based Policy outlines programs and policies that are science-based, data-driven, and promote innovation to reduce Salmonella in meat, poultry, and egg products.

“This roadmap represents FSIS’ commitment to lead with science and data in all that we do. It puts us on a course to aggressively target Salmonella and other foodborne pathogens,” said USDA’s Under Secretary for Food Safety Dr. Mindy Brashears. “I look forward to continued partnership with the food safety community in driving a science-based approach to protecting public health.”

OFS and FSIS will discuss the Salmonella roadmap at a virtual public meeting next week. Also participating in the meeting are USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The public meeting continues Under Secretary Brashears’ vision of building relationships, influencing behavior change, and leading with science to enhance food safety.

Stakeholders are invited to participate in the public meeting and comment on the Salmonella roadmap and on the science that drives FSIS’ Salmonella reduction efforts. The public meeting has reached its capacity for oral comments. Interested parties can still submit written comments on or before Sept. 25, 2020 at http://www.regulations.gov.

The Sept. 22 public meeting will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET. The meeting is virtual and will be viewed via the Webex link provided by email upon registration for the meeting. There is no fee to register for the public meeting, but preregistration is mandatory for participants to attend. More information is available at http://www.fsis.usda.gov/meetings.

The roadmap is available at https://www.fsis.usda.gov/FSISRoadmaptoReducingSalmonella.