The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) has launched a new comprehensive focus on reducing Salmonella illnesses caused by poultry products. A key component encouraged by FSIS is to consider pre-harvest controls to reduce Salmonella contamination coming into the plant.1
For years, CDC (Centers for Disease Control) attributed a large portion of foodborne illnesses to Salmonella associated with chickens, turkeys and eggs.2,3 FSIS is looking to reduce these Salmonella illnesses by working with poultry companies on advancing initiatives such as pilot projects, preharvest controls and quantitative measures of Salmonella loads.