Source: Julie Larson Bricher, MEATINGPLACE, 9/10/18



USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has made available two reports outlining advice received from the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF) concerning salmonella control strategies and e. coli virulence factors.

The reports were adopted by the agency at the Aug. 7, 2018, plenary session by NACMCF.
The first report — Response to Questions Posed by the Food and Drug Administration Regarding Virulence Factors and Attributes that Define Foodborne Shiga Toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) as Severe Human Pathogens — details what is currently known about virulence and pathogenicity of STEC and how they cause illness in humans. NACMCF also covers available detection methods and how to rapidly identify foodborne STEC that are most likely to cause serious human disease.

The committee suggested a number of action items, including the development of high-throughput methods that can detect STEC virulence factor genes, expanded systematic sampling of food, animals and water for STEC, and further development of whole genome sequencing techniques to predict toxin levels.
In the second report — Response to Questions Posed by the Food Safety and Inspection Service Regarding Salmonella Control Strategies in Poultry — the committee answers a range of questions posed by the agency, including what criteria define salmonella that are highly virulent to humans. NACMCF was also asked to identify the top three focus points, control measures or best practices compatible with industry-wide practices that will reduce salmonella-related illnesses and product contamination.

Recommendations include that FSIS move toward a risk-based disposition of finished raw product, develop of improved poultry vaccines and microbiological detection methods, and develop guidance for process control during further processing.

Access the full NACMCF reports online.

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