As a part of The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service’s (USDA’s FSIS’) ongoing efforts to reduce foodborne illnesses caused by Salmonella, FSIS invited poultry slaughter and processing establishments to submit proposals for pilot projects with the aim of testing different strategies for Salmonella control in poultry products.

FSIS has announced that is granting a pilot project to Pilgrim’s Pride in Mount Pleasant, Texas to examine the merits and logistics of excluding Salmonella poultry vaccine strains from the FSIS Salmonella performance categorization calculation. The data collected during the pilot will be shared with and analyzed by FSIS to determine whether the findings support changes to existing FSIS Salmonella control strategies.

The present pilot and any future approved pilot projects will be listed on the Pilot Projects: Salmonella Control Strategies page of the FSIS website. The list will be updated as additional pilots are approved. Questions or ideas for a pilot with FSIS can be emailed to Salmonella@usda.gov.