USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) on July 29th published its Salmonella Framework for Raw Poultry Products proposed rule. After review, NCC said the proposal is unnecessary, will raise costs for producers and consumers, and will lead to an extraordinary amount of food waste with no impact on public health.
“NCC and our member companies have invested hundreds of millions of dollars and have worked for decades to develop and refine best practices to reduce Salmonella and protect public health,” said Gary Kushner, NCC Interim President.
Those efforts have been paying off. According to the latest data available from FSIS (7/1/2023 – 6/30/2024), 97 percent of whole birds and 93 percent of chicken parts tested negative for Salmonella at the plant. During the past five years, 31 CDC Salmonella illness outbreak investigations have been linked to food, and only one has involved chicken.
“We remain committed to further reducing Salmonella and fully support changes in food safety regulations that are based on sound science, robust data, and are demonstrated to positively impact public health,” Kushner said. “However, we are concerned this proposal is not based on any of those. Instead of sound science and robust data, the proposed rule continuously references agenda-driven, activist organizations to substantiate these sweeping changes.
“NCC and the chicken industry attempted to engage with FSIS for the past two years during the formulation of this proposed Salmonella Framework, and unfortunately, our input was largely disregarded,” added Kushner.
“There is no silver bullet or one-size-fits-all approach to food safety, which is why we employ a multi-stage strategy,” Kushner said. “Passing a law or regulation to fight bacteria will not magically make it disappear. This proposal will raise the price of chicken and cause millions of pounds of safe-to-eat, if properly prepared, chicken to be sent to landfills rather than dinner tables – an unconscionable thought given there are 44 million Americans who are food insecure.
“The only way to ensure our food is safe 100 percent of the time is by following science-based procedures when raising and processing chicken, and by handling and cooking it properly,” Kushner said.
After a review of the full proposed Framework, NCC also expressed several additional concerns:
- Holding raw chicken for days and days waiting for test results to come back will dramatically impact the product’s shelf life, leading to higher prices and more waste.
- Impacting product flow throughout the plant may affect the flow of birds to the plant for processing, which could have a negative impact on the health and welfare of the birds.
- The proposed rule drastically underestimates the cost to industry (testing, holding, diverting product, etc.)
- FSIS provides no guidance to industry on how product should be lotted, what data they will accept to substantiate the size of a lot, or any other clarification. This will have a disproportionately negative impact on small and very small establishments and potentially drive them out of business entirely.
“NCC looks forward to providing comments on this significant, potential shift in regulatory policy,” Kushner concluded.
