The US Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has hammered another nail into the coffin that holds the remains of the US food safety system.
The FSIS has run away from its proposed rule to limit Salmonella contamination in raw poultry, bowing to opposition from the US poultry industry. The notice of withdrawal appeared in the April 25, 2025 issue of the Federal Register.
The proposed rule, which had been in the works for three years and was published in the Federal Register on August 7, 2024, would have defined as adulterated raw chicken carcasses, chicken parts, comminuted chicken, and comminuted turkey products contaminated with certain Salmonella levels and serotypes.
The August 2024 proposal represented nothing more than a first baby step toward controlling Salmonella in raw poultry in the US, focusing primarily on just five of the more than 2400 known serotypes, and only requiring action on other serotypes if they are present at a concentration of more than 10 viable microbes per gram or milliliter of sample.
Compare this to countries such as France, where the presence in raw poultry at any level of any Salmonella serotype is grounds for a recall.
Is this reversal of a proposed minimal control over Salmonella in raw poultry a precursor to the abandonment of other regulatory policies relating to microbiological adulteration of raw meats and poultry?
- Will FSIS withdraw its rule limiting Salmonella in raw, breaded poultry products?
- Will FSIS withdraw its rule declaring E. coli O157:H7 and several other shiga toxin-producing E. coli serotypes to be adulterants in raw meat?
- Will FSIS withdraw its rule mandating HACCP-style food safety programs in the meat and poultry industry?
I hope not.
Here is a list of some of the other steps reported to have been taken by the FDA in the administration’s quest to deregulate food safety and decimate accumulated decades of expertise in the agency.
- Communications teams at the FDA—CUT
- FOIA response teams at the FDA—CUT
- FDA milk quality testing program—CUT
- Responsibility for FDA routine inspections likely to be shifted to individual states—whether or not the states have the budget or the expertise to carry the inspections out according to FDA requirements
- FDA’s laboratory proficiency testing program—SUSPENDED
- FDA research into methods for detecting bird flu in milk, cheese, and pet foods—CUT
- Personnel at two FDA labs—Moffett Lab in Chicago and the Alameda lab in the San Francisco area—were fired; some have been rehired after it was determined they were fired in error.
Meanwhile, the FDA is investigating two new outbreaks of Salmonella Enteritidis infections, totaling 72 cases so far. The source(s) of the outbreaks have not yet been determined; however, Salmonella Enteritidis is a common contaminant in raw poultry and raw eggs. If eggs from Turkey are the source, will we ever be told?
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