The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service just hit the brakes on its proposed Salmonella framework for raw poultry products.
The proposal – first introduced in August 2024 – aimed to classify certain poultry products with high enough salmonella levels and serotypes as adulterated as defined in the Poultry Products Inspection Act and introduce stricter testing and accountability measures. This was all to reduce Salmonella illnesses associated with poultry products.
In light of feedback from a public comment period earlier this year though, FSIS is withdrawing the proposal to consider it further.
Smaller poultry producers and processors were particularly against the proposal, saying it would place an overwhelming burden on them.
Some of the issues FSIS says generated the most comments, both positive and negative, involved the agency’s legal authority to propose final product standards, the proposed salmonella levels and serotypes for the standards, and the potential economic impacts of the proposed framework.
The framework is off the table for now, but the agency says it will further assess its approach, so there may still be more regulation in this space ahead.
