Yes, it’s true. Over the last 20 years, we have seen a significant reduction in contamination of raw chicken and other poultry products by salmonella bacteria. However…
“We have seen no change in the amount of illness that is attributed to chicken, and that’s just not right.”
Dr. Emilio Esteban is Under Secretary of Agriculture for Food Safety. He says, to make it right and reduce the numbers of human illnesses caused by salmonella in poultry products, the US is now proposing new rules that would have poultry growers and processing plants place a lot more attention on testing for and eliminating a half dozen of the 2700 types of salmonella that are out there.
“It’s not a perfect solution, but it’s a huge step in the right direction to least start to focus on those stereotypes that are really making people sick.”
Dr. Esteban says out of the thousands of types of salmonella bacteria that exist, only about a half dozen of them can infest raw poultry and cause human illnesses at the same time. He says those are the types of salmonella the industry needs to concentrate on at every point along the poultry production system, from the farm to the processing plant to the consumer.
“I see it as an onion with different layers. Each layer has another layer of protection.”
And the layers begin at the farm level.
“If you present a very nice, clean, healthy chicken to the slaughter plant, then it will be easier if you maintain that quality within the plant, that must maintain the uniformity and adds another level of protection, and then you include good consumer handling and practices for cooking. It is the responsibility of the entire chain. If you take a point where we don’t make people sick eating contaminated poultry.”
And Dr. Esteban says the plan for these new rules is to prevent products contaminated with these types of bacteria from ever being sold to consumers at all, and in doing so…
“Would reduce human illnesses by about 25%.”
That’s a big number. In the US each year, there are a reported 168,000 cases of Food poisoning linked to salmonella in chicken and turkey products, most of which happen when consumers don’t cook foods to the recommended temperature to kill any bacteria. Meredith Carruthers, with USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline, says always use a food thermometer and with poultry…
“Any chicken, whether it’s whole or ground, you know, chicken, turkey, duck, any poultry, whether it’s whole or ground you want to cook those to 165.”
165 in the center of the meat. For more information, call the meat and poultry hotline at 1-888-M-P-HOTLINE.