Canada Proposes New Measures to Combat Salmonella Caused by Frozen Raw Breaded Chicken Products
Frozen raw breaded chicken products continue to be identified as a source of Salmonella infection in Canada. In the last 10 years the incidence of Salmonella illness in Canada has steadily increased. This increase has been driven by Salmonellaenteritidis, the most common strain of Salmonella in the food supply that is often associated with poultry.
For this reason, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and industry at large are actively working to identify and implement measures at the manufacturing/processing level to reduce Salmonella to below a detectable amount in frozen raw breaded chicken products such as chicken nuggets, chicken fingers, chicken strips, popcorn chicken and chicken burgers that are packaged for retail sale. This approach focuses the responsibility on the poultry industry and represents a fundamental change to existing requirements for frozen raw breaded chicken products.