On Feb. 11, 2016, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) published a Federal Register Notice to finalize new Salmonella and Campylobacter performance standards for comminuted poultry and chicken parts. Additionally, the notice adopts the agency’s new approach to Salmonella and Campylobacter verification through a 52-week moving window and adopts new procedures for responding to positive samples, including posting the names of establishments on the Web and initiating enforcement actions. The new procedures are effective for broiler and turkey carcasses beginning May 11, 2016, and for comminuted poultry and chicken parts on May 11, 2017 (although, as noted below, the agency may take action on comminuted poultry and chicken parts sooner in certain circumstances).
Sampling window and determination of category: To determine compliance with the standards, FSIS will use a 52-week moving window approach. Large establishments will be sampled weekly and compliance will be determined by the permitted number of positives out of the last 52 samples taken. For other establishments, the agency will incrementally decrease the number of samples taken based on production volume, so lower-volume establishments will be tested less frequently. If there are less than 52 samples collected during a year, FSIS would use the percentage to determine compliance with the standards. In all cases, FSIS will collect a minimum number of samples (as specified in the notice) to determine process control.