Food Safety Attorney Petitions USDA to Ban Salmonella Outbreak Serotypes
Food safety attorney Bill Marler is asking the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA FSIS) to ban 31 antibiotic-resistant Salmonella strains from meat and poultry products.
Marler’s list, dubbed “Salmonella Outbreak Serotypes”, includes the following outbreak serotypes to be considered adulterants in meat and poultry products:
Salmonella Agona, Anatum, Berta, Blockely, Braenderup, Derby, Dublin, Enteritidis, Hadar, Heidelberg, I 4,[5],12:i:-, Infantis, Javiana, Litchfield, Mbandaka, Mississippi, Montevideo, Muenchen, Newport, Oranienburg, Panama, Poona, Reading, Saintpaul, Sandiego, Schwarzengrund, Senftenberg, Stanley, Thompson, Typhi, and Typhimurium.
A similar petition brought forth by the Center for Science in the Public Interest in 2014 asked USDA FSIS to ban four antibiotic-resistant Salmonella strains, but that petition was revoked without explanation just 60 days later.
Marler’s petition was filed in conjunction with Rick Schiller, Steven Romes, the Porter Family, Food & Water Watch, Consumer Federation of America, and Consumer Reports.
Marler’s 62-page petition has yet to receive a response from USDA FSIS nor the meat industry itself.
Sign up for Food Safety Magazine’s bi-weekly emails!
Subscribe to our podcast: Food Safety Matters!
Looking for quick answers on food safety topics?
Try Ask FSM, our new smart AI search tool.
Ask FSM →
