The USDA released a new framework to reduce salmonella infections linked to poultry products.
The proposed framework consists of three components including requiring incoming flocks to be tested for salmonella before entering an establishment; enhancing establishment processing control monitoring; implementing an enforceable final product standard.
The CDC estimates that salmonella bacteria cause more than a million human infections each year, totaling more than $4 billion.
The National Chicken Council is responding to the announcement.
“We support the need to develop science-based approaches that will impact public health, but this is being done backward. The Agency is formulating regulatory policies and drawing conclusions before gathering data, much less analyzing it,” said the group’s Senior VP of Scientific and Regulatory Affairs, Ashley Peterson.
Peterson calls this speculation, not science.
