FSIS tested 2,955 samples of young chicken, and found that 2.6 percent tested positive forSalmonella, according to the agency's "Quarterly Progress Reports onSalmonellaandCampylobacter Testing of Selected Raw Meat and Poultry Products". The samples also were tested forCampylobacter, and 5.7 percent of those samples tested positive which was unchanged from the previous quarter. However, it represented a decline of almost 50 percent since FSIS began testing forCampylobacteron raw young chicken in 2011.
FSIS also reported that the number of establishments performing better than half the performance standard (Category 1) forSalmonellaclimbed to 70.1 percent in the second quarter from 67.6 percent in the first quarter.
"Overall, the results presented in this quarterly report indicate that we continue to make improvements in the incidence rate ofSalmonellaandCampylobacteron young chicken carcasses," said Ashley Peterson, Ph.D., National Chicken Council vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs.
