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USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service withdraws proposed Salmonella framework

The USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service is withdrawing its proposed regulatory framework for Salmonella for raw poultry products.

The framework, which was published in August 2024 after multiple years of consideration, was targeted at reducing Salmonella illnesses associated with poultry products.

Following the comment period, FSIS says it determined further consideration is needed before it considers updating the current poultry performance standards.

Ashley Peterson, senior vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs with the National Chicken Council says the agency’s proposed framework would have had no meaningful impact on public health, would have increased costs for both producers and consumers, and would have resulted in an extraordinary amount of food waste.  She says the proposed framework relied on the misinterpretation of science and was not legally sound.  NCC says it is committed to further reducing Salmonella and is supportive of food safety regulations and policies that are based on sound science. 

FSIS says it remains supportive of the goal to reduce instances of Salmonella illnesses.