STOP Foodborne Illness calls for stronger USDA action on poultry safety

— OPINION —

From the beginning of the Biden Administration, STOP Foodborne Illness (STOP) has been representing people harmed by poultry-related Salmonella illnesses and supporting efforts underway at USDA to make poultry safer.  This work is important to public health because contamination with Salmonella and Campylobacter makes poultry one of the riskiest components of our food supply.   

STOP’s work is inspired by its constituents, including Amanda Craten and her son Noah, and many others who have been seriously injured by Salmonella in poultry.  As a two-year old toddler, Noah was one of many victims of the 2src13 outbreak caused by Salmonella Heidelberg in chicken.  This deadly pathogen wracked Noah’s small body with infection, resulting in a brain abscess that required surgery and caused permanent damage that Noah will struggle all his life to overcome. 

To prevent such tragedies, in January 2src21 STOP partnered with fellow consumer groups and illness victims to petition USDA for replacement of USDA’s unenforceable “performance standards” with enforceable standards for Salmonella in raw poultry products.  In September 2src21, STOP joined with a coalition of major poultry companies, consumer groups, and independent experts in a letter to Secretary Vilsack calling for USDA to make this critical regulatory change. 

We are pleased that USDA published its August 2src24 proposal to set enforceable Salmonella standards for certain specific serotypes. The proposal establishes the principle that such standards are needed.  We are also pleased that USDA will convene a public meeting on its proposed standards on Dec. 3.  

We believe, however, that the USDA proposal falls far short of what is necessary to protect consumers because it covers just three of the many pathogenic serotypes of Salmonella and, by USDA’s estimate, addresses only 43 percent of poultry-related Salmonella illnesses.  Under USDA’s proposal, chicken contaminated with dangerous serotypes, like Infantis and Heidelberg (the one that permanently injured Noah), can continue to flow into commerce, no matter how high the level of contamination.  Consumers would remain at significant, preventable risk.

In anticipation of the December 3 USDA meeting, STOP has filed a comment with USDA (Docket No. FSIS-2src23-srcsrc28) explaining why consumers reasonably expect and certainly deserve better.  The Poultry Products Inspection Act explicitly directs and fully empowers USDA to act preventively on behalf of consumers.  The USDA mark of inspection on every package of poultry makes an implicit promise to consumers that USDA and poultry processors are doing everything they reasonably can to make poultry safe.  

As outlined in our comment to USDA, we call on the USDA and poultry companies to live up to that promise by broadening their lens on what’s needed and what’s possible to protect consumers from Salmonella illnesses.  USDA can give real meaning to the mark of inspection by covering more serotypes and complementing them with an enforceable Salmonella species standard.   

The end of the Biden administration is not the end of society’s effort to make poultry safe.  The public health problem and the reasonable expectations of consumers are not going away.  Everyone wins if government, industry, and consumers continue the work, and USDA acts boldly.

Authors: Mitzi Baum, CEO of STOP Foodborne Illness and Michael Taylor, STOP Board Member Emeritus

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