"This new policy will reduce foodborne illnesses and the number of recalls by preventing contaminated products from reaching consumers," USDA Under Secretary for Food Safety Dr. Elisabeth Hagen said.
It has been over a year since the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) declared six non-O157 STECs as adulterants on raw non-intact beef, and almost five months since the agency started testing beef trimmings for these pathogens.
USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service has issued Notice 66-12 on actions to take when an establishment substantially or temporarily alters its Salmonella control process.
In conducting standard recall effectiveness checks of U.S. domestic establishments receiving beef from XL Foods, Inc. (Canadian Establishment 038), the USDA discovered that whole muscle beef cuts prduced on the same production dates as beef subject to recall in Canada were being used to produce raw ground products.
It provides specific recommendations that establishments producing post-lethality exposed RTE meat and poultry products may follow to meet the requirements of 9 CFR part 430, Requirements for Specific Classes of Products (The Listeria Rule).
The agency will increase the number of product samples it collects under its routine Risk-based Lm (RLm) sampling program and its intensified verification testing protocol from 3 to 5 samples per sampling unit.
The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has been working for months now on a new approach to validate the effectiveness of existing Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) systems.
On Aug. 14, 2012, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) issued Directive 5,000.6, “Performance of the Hazard Analysis Verification (HAV) Task."
Later this summer, the Department will launch a new approach to its testing to protect the public from exposure to harmful levels of chemical residues in meat, poultry, and egg products.
