The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA’s FSIS) has proposed a regulatory framework that would change food safety in the poultry industry, including new flock testing requirements, enhancing process control and verification, and implementing enforceable final product standards.
The meat and poultry industries are an interesting mix of conservative practices and innovation. This article examines five topics and their implications to protein food, including meat safety as a model for the produce industry; increased interest in Salmonella and Listeria; USDA proposed rulemaking for meat and poultry; the move toward aggregated sampling; and developing safety needs for tissue-cultivated products.
A continuous improvement approach may be useful for poultry operations aiming to reduce the presence of Salmonella in their flocks, in light of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s initiative that includes increased quantitative microbial monitoring of incoming flocks to processing plants.
Based on Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet) data, a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report states that the incidence of commonly foodborne enteric infections decreased in the U.S. during 2021.
To understand and eventually reduce the risk of salmonellosis from poultry meat, it is necessary to understand the poultry production system, the introduction of the microorganism into the poultry ecosystem (as well as its gastrointestinal tract), the sources of Salmonella during production, and, subsequently, strategies to control or reduce the risk from this microorganism at both the pre-and post-harvest stages. Part 2 of this article series examines pre-harvest controls during grow-out.
The UK Animal and Plant Health Agency has published a report that provides an overview of incidences of Salmonella and the pathogen’s overall level of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) throughout the UK in 2021.
An ongoing study funded by the Center for Produce Safety is examining the survival of Salmonella and Listeriamonocytogenes on surfaces in dry food packaging facilities, as well as the efficacy of dry cleaning processes on pathogen reduction. The first of three phases has concluded.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced two new food safety prevention strategies intended to help prevent outbreaks of foodborne salmonellosis and listeriosis associated with imported enoki and wood ear mushrooms, and salmonellosis associated with bulb onions.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA’s FSIS) will host a virtual open house featuring live demonstrations and presentations on Salmonella sampling and quantification, whole genome sequencing, agency technology, and the National Residue Program.
A recent study has identified eggs as the most common source of salmonellosis in Europe, where Salmonella is the leading cause of foodborne illness outbreaks.
