PPoultry producers will be required to reduce Salmonella bacteria in certain chicken products to very low levels to help prevent food poisoning, according to a final rule issued Friday by U.S. agriculture officials.
When the regulation comes into force in 2025, salmonella will be considered an adulterant – a contaminant that can cause foodborne illness – when it is detected above certain levels in breaded and stuffed frozen raw chicken products. This would include things like frozen chicken cordon bleu and chicken Kiev dishes that appear to be fully cooked but are only heat treated to set the batter or topping.
It’s the first time the U.S. Department of Agriculture has declared salmonella an adulterant in raw poultry, just as certain E. coli bacteria are considered contaminants that should be kept out of raw ground beef sold in grocery stores, said Sandra Eskin, the USDA undersecretary for food safety.
The new rule also means that if a product exceeds the allowable level of salmonella, it cannot be sold and will be subject to recall, Eskin said.
see more information: Food poisoning vs. stomach flu: how to tell the difference
Salmonella poisoning is responsible for more than 1.3 million infections and about 420 deaths each year in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Food is the source of most of these diseases.
Breaded and stuffed raw chicken products have been linked to at least 14 salmonella outbreaks and at least 200 illnesses since 1998, CDC statistics show. A 2021 Outbreak linked to the products caused at least three dozen illnesses in 11 states and sent 12 people to the hospital.
Despite label changes emphasizing that products needed to be thoroughly cooked, consumers continued to get sick, Eskin said.
“Sometimes salmonella is very virulent,” she said.
Addressing a narrow category of poultry products lays the foundation for a new frame Regulating salmonella more broadly is now being considered by federal authorities, said Mike Taylor, a former U.S. Food and Drug Administration official in charge of food safety.
Among other things, the proposal calls for greater testing for salmonella in poultry entering a processing plant, more rigorous monitoring during production and a targeted approach to three types of salmonella that cause a third of all illnesses .
“There is no doubt that moving forward on this path to regulate salmonella as an adulterant is long overdue,” Taylor said.
Poultry industry officials have long said the government already has tools to ensure product safety and that companies have invested in methods to reduce salmonella in raw chicken.
A representative from the National Chicken Council said officials have not seen the final rule. However, the trade group said in a statement that it is concerned that the regulation represents an abrupt policy shift and that it “has the potential to close processing plants, cost jobs, and remove safe food and convenient products from shelves without moving the needle in public health.” .”
The USDA took similar action with E. coli bacteria in 1994, following deadly outbreaks of food poisoning linked to ground beef and the number of related foodborne illnesses. They fell by more than 50%.
Seattle food safety lawyer Bill Marler — who represented clients in a deadly 1993 outbreak of E. coli in fast-food hamburgers and lobbied for broader changes to salmonella control — said the new regulations are a good first. step.
“Setting a standard will force the industry to adjust,” he said.
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
