USDA Vows to Reduce Salmonella Illnesses Linked to Poultry

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USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced on Oct. 19 that it is mobilizing a stronger, and more comprehensive effort to reduce Salmonella illnesses associated with poultry products.

The North American Meat Institute (Meat Institute) said they welcome this opportunity to partner with USDA in this effort to reduce Salmonella illnesses by 25%.

“As an industry, our goal is to produce safe products without exception,” said Julie Anna Potts, President and CEO of the Meat Institute. “The industry has significantly improved efforts to reduce incidence of Salmonella, and we will continue to work with USDA to do all we can to detect and deter incidents of Salmonellosis, especially by coordinating with partners in the supply chain on best practices and research.” 

FSIS is initiating several key activities to gather the data and information necessary to support future action and move closer to the 25% reduction goal. 

Poultry is linked to roughly 23% of the 1.35 million salmonella infections in the U.S. each year that lead to roughly 26,500 hospitalizations and 420 deaths, and those numbers haven't changed much, reports ABC News

USDA plans to set up pilot projects to try to change the way it tests for salmonella in plants and to try encouraging the industry to do more on the farm to reduce the amount of bacteria on chickens before they enter the plant. The agency also plans to hold a series of meetings with industry officials and interested groups to discuss other ways to reduce the risk of salmonella illnesses, ABC News reports.

Earlier this year, the Meat Institute launched the Protein PACT for the People, Animals and Climate of Tomorrow, an industry-wide effort to accelerate achievement of global development goals. 

“Food safety is one of the Protein PACT’s five key focus areas, along with health and wellness. Through the Protein PACT, NAMI will report on progress across 100 metrics toward ambitious goals for health people, healthy animals, and a healthy environment,” the organization said in a release.

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