In an effort to stem the tide of foodborne illnesses hitting the country every year via chicken and turkey, the Obama administration has announced new rules for poultry plants, revamping the rules its used for inspections for the first time since 1957.
The United States Department of Agriculture says the aptly named New Poultry Inspection System will prevent up to 5,000 illnesses from things like Salmonella and Campylobacter. Though the NPIS cuts down on the total number of inspectors, it says it positions food safety workers throughout the plants in a smarter way, stressing safety over food quality.
“The United States has been relying on a poultry inspection model that dates back to 1957, while rates of foodborne illness due to Salmonella and Campylobacter remain stubbornly high,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said. “The system we are announcing today imposes stricter requirements on the poultry industry and places our trained inspectors where they can better ensure food is being processed safely. These improvements make use of sound science to modernize food safety procedures and prevent thousands of illnesses each year.”
The Food Safety and Inspection service will require companies to focus on preventing contamination, instead of trying to deal with it after it already occurs.
In the first-ever rule of its kind, all poultry plants will have to conduct their own microbiological testing at two different points in the production process to ensure they’re controlling Salmonella and Campylobacter. The FSIS will also continue its own testing.
In addition, the optional NPIS will mean companies must sort their poultry themselves to look for quality defects before the poultry ever gets to FSIS inspectors.
That way, the inspectors can “focus less on routine quality assurance tasks that have little relationship to preventing pathogens like Salmonella and instead focus more on strategies that are proven to strengthen food safety,” the press release explains.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put the numbers for salmonella linked illnesses at 1.2 million per year, resulting in 450 deaths, reports the Associated Press.
Consumers in the know might be aware of this year’s Foster Farms recall after 634 salmonella-related illnesses in 29 states and Puerto Rico were linked to their products over the span of a year.
And there was the Cargill recall of 2011, when the company recalled more than 36 million pounds of ground turkey after a salmonella outbreak hit 136 people and killed one.
USDA Announces Additional Food Safety Requirements, New Inspection System for Poultry Products [USDA.gov]
USDA overhauls 50 year-old poultry inspections [Associated Press]
by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist
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