As it has in the past, the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) continues to march aggressively toward its goal of a safer food supply. In addition to tightening existing policy and creating new regulation, the agency will employ new tools in its fight for food safety. Some of these new tools will have an immediate and substantial impact on the industry, while the effect of others will be somewhat more subtle and long-lasting.
Emboldened by its success in reducing the numbers of outbreaks and recalls caused by E. coli O157:H7 (and non-O157:H7 STECs) over the last decade, the agency is now turning its attention aggressively toward Salmonella and Campylobacter. According to FSIS, “Salmonella and Campylobacter bacteria are among the most frequent causes of human foodborne illness in the United States.”