Source: Rita Jane Gabbett, MEATINGPLACE, 4/1/15

USDA has issued details of how it will implement the changes to salmonella and campylobacter verification testing that were announced in January and will go into effect May 1.

FSIS will begin using a moving window approach for young chickens and young turkey carcasses on May 1, starting with carcass sampling programs. Under this new approach, FSIS will no longer collect sample sets but will sample on a continuous basis.

For example, under current performance standards for young chickens, the set is 51 samples and five or fewer positive samples would meet the standard. Under the moving window approach, if an establishment has five Salmonella positives within a 51-sample moving window, then the establishment would meet the performance standard for that window.

When the next sample is taken, the moving window shifts forward one sample; that is, the original sample (Sample 1) is excluded, while the most recent sample (Sample 52) is included in the new 51-sample moving window.

This shifting is repeated with each new sample and allows FSIS to continuously assess the process control of an establishment.
To read the full FSIS notice click here.

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