MEAT+POULTRY - March 2015 - 80

FOOD SAFETY

Protecting
parts
USDA prepares to tackle
controlling pathogens on poultry
parts and pieces
BY B E R N A R D S H I R E | M E AT P O U LT RY@ SOSL A N D.CO M

I

Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
introduced new food safety
requirements for suppliers
of its poultry parts this past
December.

80

t's probably something USDA should
have done quite a while ago. Up to now,
there have not been any regulations to
control pathogens on poultry product parts
or pieces. Instead, the regulation having to do
with pathogens apply only to whole chickens,
turkeys or other poultry.
But the fact is most poultry sold today
is "value-added," meaning pieces or parts of
turkey, chicken or other birds, rather than
whole birds. That's because most consumers
today are used to buying chicken tenders,
boneless chicken or turkey breasts, or other
easy-to-handle poultry pieces for cooking.
Recognizing this gap in food safety,
USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service is
announcing new performance standards that
will require industry to improve its controlling
of pathogens on poultry parts. These tougher
government standards will apply to both notready-to-eat (NRTE) ground turkey and chicken
products, as well as raw chicken and turkey
parts and are being implemented this month.
The goal of these increased performance
standards is to reduce Salmonella and
Campylobacter in these products. Sickness
caused by Salmonella would be reduced
by 30 percent as a result of these tougher
standards, which would cover chicken wings,
legs, breasts, thighs, turkey pieces, and ground

MEAT+ POULTRY | 03.15 | www.meatpoultry.com

chicken and turkey. The goal is to knock down
Campylobacter illnesses from 37 to 19 percent
applying to chicken and turkey parts, ground
turkey and chicken.
And as part of this plan, USDA also will
begin exploratory sampling of raw pork
products for pathogens that would be of public
health concern, as well as indicator organisms
showing the possibility of coming pathogens.
The agency is planning to use routine sampling
of products for pathogens throughout the
year, instead of not very frequent sampling on
consecutive days to see whether establishment
safety processes are effectively addressing
Salmonella and Campylobacter on poultry
carcasses and products coming from these
carcasses, including poultry parts and raw
ground chicken and turkey.
USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack said the
Department is taking specific aim at making
poultry products most Americans buy safer to
eat. "This is a meaningful, targeted step that
could prevent tens of thousands of illnesses a
year," he said. FSIS Chief Al Almanza said the
new standards, as well as improved testing
patterns, will have a major impact on public
health, and meet the ever-changing food safety
landscape. Robert Tauxe MD, deputy director
of the Division of Foodborne, Waterborne
and Environmental Diseases at the Centers
http://www.meatpoultry.com
MEAT+POULTRY - March 2015

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