CFI appreciates the opportunity to provide comments in response to the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Proposed Regulatory Framework to Reduce Salmonella Infections Linked to Poultry Products.
We regularly submit public comments, which can be found on our CFI Public Comments page, on proposed rules and RFIs issued by the two federal food safety agencies – the US Food and Drug Administration (under the United State Department of Health and Human Services) and the Food Safety and Inspection Service (under the United State Department of Agriculture).
Our most recent comments are from December 2022, on the FSIS Proposed Regulatory Framework to Reduce Salmonella Illnesses Attributed to Poultry by FSIS that the Agency is considering for a new strategy to control Salmonella in poultry products and more effectively reduce foodborne Salmonella infections linked to these products.
FSIS is the public health agency in USDA whose mission is to ensure that meat, poultry, and egg products are safe, wholesome, and properly labeled and packaged. FSIS has used the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Healthy People (1) target to set pathogen reduction goals for FSIS-regulated products over the past few decades. However, the 2010 and 2020 Healthy People targets for a reduction in Salmonella infections from all sources were not met. (2) The Healthy People 2030 target is to reduce Salmonella infections to a national case rate of no more than 11.5 per 100,000 consumers per year. To reach the 2030 target, illnesses must be reduced by 25%. Although this target is for Salmonella infections from all sources, FSIS has adopted the same target and aims to reduce Salmonella infections linked to all FSIS-regulated products by 25%.
Currently, FSIS is considering a regulatory framework for a new strategy to control Salmonella in poultry products and more effectively reduce foodborne Salmonella infections linked to these products. At the same time, FSIS is gathering scientific evidence relevant to the approaches presented in this framework.
The framework under consideration has been shaped by months of information-gathering and discussions with a wide range of stakeholders, researchers, and scientists. FSIS seeks input from stakeholders on proposed frameworks, both at the public meeting and in written comments submitted in response to the Federal Register notice before moving forward with any proposed changes to the Agency's Salmonella strategy.
Source : osu.edu