Source: Michael Fielding, MEATINGPLACE, 1/30/12

Meatingplace has learned that USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) will soon target mechanically separated poultry in its efforts to control the spread of Salmonella.

“We have evidence that mechanically separated chicken is being used in not ready-to-eat products,” Dan Engeljohn, assistant administrator for the FSIS Office of Policy and Program Development, told Meatingplace during the International Poultry Expo in Atlanta last week. “The agency has put the industry on notice that it plans to begin including MSC in its verification testing program for Salmonella.”

MSC is used mainly in hot dogs and products such as deli meat, bologna and some sausages.
Despite the news, Engeljohn stressed that the increase in illnesses is not associated with poultry. “There is actually a decrease. The incidence of illnesses in poultry is going down and is representative of other food products.”

The number isn’t altogether artificial but instead is the result of a variety of factors ranging from more reporting of clinical observations, faster reporting and more investigations. “The industry doing a good job of identifying that people are getting sick but not necessarily what they’re getting sick from,” Engeljohn said during a panel discussion with growers.

Although growers argued that primary breeders in the United States have never been cleaner for Salmonella than they are now, they have been struggling to keep up with pressure to prevent sending sick birds to the slaughterhouse. Some suggested to Engeljohn that they prefer not to test for pathogens, fearing that the agency would add even more pressure to clean up their operations.

“Not knowing what you have isn’t going to save you,” Engeljohn told the group.

“Salmonella is not an adulterant in raw poultry at this time,” although there is a petition before FSIS by the Center for Science in the Public Interest to declare four multi-drug strains of the bug as adulterants. Engeljohn later told Meatingplace that the agency plans to open the petition for public comment in the near future.

“Ignorance isn’t your defense,” Engeljohn added. “We want to see evidence that you’re controlling contamination to the lowest level that your plant is able to control.”
 

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