Food Protection Trends - November/December 2023 - 564

in getting involved in any of these events, please
contact Vanessa or the Student PDG leadership.
Dr. Carter introduced the second speaker, Dr. Katie
Rose McCullough from the North American Meat
Institute Foundation for Meat and Poultry Research
and Education, to give an update on industry activity
for meat and poultry safety improvement was given
by Dr. Katie Rose McCullough. She began by giving
an overview of the background, funding, advisory
committees, and priorities of the Foundation for Meat
and Poultry Research and Education. She shared
that the update to the FSIS Cooking Guideline
for Meat and Poultry Products Appendix A and B,
posed some challenges to the industry and more
solutions are needed for both small and large meat
establishments. They currently have ongoing projects
looking to address these challenges. Dr. McCullough
pointed out that Salmonella illness occurrence has
not been reduced since 1996, but USDA data shows
that the industry has effectively reduced Salmonella
contamination. She concluded that more work is
needed to reduce illness. If interested in getting
involved with the efforts of the Foundation, please
email Dr. McCullough at kmccullough@meatinstitute.
org.
Dr. Carter introduced the third speaker, Dr. Isabel
Walls, from the FSIS Office of Public Health Science,
to give an update on USDA FSIS Research priorities
and data needs. Dr. Walls gave an overview of FSIS
activities and then discussed the research priorities.
There are 16 projects in partnership with USDA ARS,
and more research activities being done at universities.
The remaining data gaps include estimating lot size
in poultry slaughter and processing plants, control
of pathogen growth in small establishments through
slaughter, dressing/carcass chilling, and controlling the
growth of C. perfringes in the cooling of scalded offal
and other products.
Further collaborations with ARS on the identification
of methods for virulent Salmonella, refining Salmonella
quantification in meat and poultry products, improving
methods for sampling turkey carcasses, mitigation
of Salmonella serotype bias in culture media, and
use of MALDI mass spectrometry for classification of
Salmonella species. Dr. Walls highlighted the Food
Safety Fellowship for doctoral students. This is a
remote, part-time, 1-year fellowship offered to current
doctoral students. It is recommended that students
apply after reviewing the FSIS priorities. If their
existing project aligns with the needs of FSIS, they
should submit an essay about how their efforts support
FSIS priorities. This fellowship provides a stipend, an
opportunity to visit the FSIS lab in Athens, Georgia,
and financial support to attend IAFP. Applications are
due August 18, 2023.
Dr. Carter introduced the fourth speaker, Dr. Emilio
Esteban, the USDA-OSEC Undersecretary for Food
564 Food Protection Trends November/December
Safety, to provide updates on the USDA Agency
Action on Food Safety Protection. Dr. Esteban began
by reviewing his priorities: leading with science,
innovation, and transparency. He then discusses
the Salmonella framework. Dr. Esteban explained
that challenges here are being addressed in three
sections: pre-harvest, processing at the plant (postharvest),
and finished product. Dr. Esteban voiced
support for recommendations of vaccinations to control
pathogen levels during pre-harvest but pointed out that
there are challenges. He believes we have reduced
contamination of carcasses with Salmonella, but data
regarding illnesses shows that more is needed. Dr.
Esteban is confident there has been change, but we
need better tools to substantiate those effects. He also
pointed out that there may be room for government
and extension outreach to collaborate on approaches
at your small and very small establishments.
He further touched on how FSIS will approach
Salmonella as an adulterant in breaded stuffed chicken
products: Quantification, serotype, and virulence are
especially important here and noted that the comment
period is open on Salmonella as an adulterant in
breaded stuffed chicken products until July 27. Another
area discussed is labeling claims, specifically the
Raised without Antibiotics and Product of U.S. labels.
USDA is collaborating with ARS to study all products
that plan to use the Raised without Antibiotics label. Dr.
Esteban touched on several topics of interest sparking
great dialogue and discussion.
Dr. Carter then facilitated a discussion on ideas for
the 2023-2024 IAFP webinars and symposia. The
deadline is October 3, 2023, to submit proposals.
Please work with the PDG leadership prior to the
deadline to ensure support for webinars and symposia.
Recommendations to the Executive Board:
1. The PDG recommends approval of Dr.
Alexandra Calle as Vice-Chair of the Meat and
Poultry PDG.
Next Meeting Date: July 14, 2024, Long Beach,
California.
Meeting Adjourned: 11:42 a.m. Eastern Time.
Chairperson: Dr. Melvin Carter.
Microbial Modelling and Risk Analysis PDG
Members Present: Sofia Santillana Farakos (Chair),
Abdullatif Tay (Vice-Chair), Hiroki Abe, Gary Aldis,
Clifton Baldwin, John Bassett, Zachary Berglund,
Ryan Blaustein, Melissa Bohn, Fred Breidt, Carmen
Cantu, Emily Cason, Sneha Chhabra, Shihyu (Andrew)
Chuang, Sara Bover Cid, Tyler Chandross-Cohen,
Margaret (Peg) Coleman, Roger Cook, Kim Cook,
Ashley Cunningham, Denise DuFresne, Maude
Michaud Dumont, Alberto Garre, Binita Goshali,
Jakob Gryniewski, Sanjay Gummalla, Matt Guo, Ruth
Harper, Gregory Harter, Eelco Heintz, Ian Hildebrandt,
Food Protection Trends - November/December 2023

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