WASHINGTON — The US Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) recently stated in a constituent update that it would extend the comment period until Nov. 7 for its proposed rule on reducing Salmonella in raw poultry products.

The agency announced its plan in late July which would establish final product standards to keep levels of Salmonella at or above 10 colony forming units (CFU) per gram/ml and any detectable level of at least one of the Salmonella serotypes of public health significance from entering commerce. 

The proposal also addresses poultry establishments’ efforts to develop a microbial monitoring program to prevent pathogen contamination throughout the slaughter system.

The USDA said approximately 1 million human infections occur from Salmonella bacteria each year in the United States, according to numbers from the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. FSIS also estimated 125,000 chicken-associated and almost 43,000 turkey associated illnesses during 2021.

In the last few weeks, meat trade associations came out against the proposed rule including the National Chicken Council (NCC).

“We remain committed to further reducing Salmonella and fully support changes in food safety regulations that are based on sound science, robust data, and are demonstrated to positively impact public health,” said Gary Kusher, interim president of NCC. “However, we are concerned this proposal is not based on any of those. Instead of sound science and robust data, the proposed rule continuously references agenda-driven, activist organizations to substantiate these sweeping changes.”

Comments can still be made in the Federal Register using the federal eRulemaking portal.