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Food Safety and Inspection
Service United States Department of Agriculture Washington, D.C. 20250-3700 |
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Food Safety and Inspection
Service United States Department of Agriculture Washington, D.C. 20250-3700 |
| Media Communications Office NEW MEAT AND POULTRY INSPECTION SYSTEM GREATLY REDUCES THREAT OF SALMONELLAWASHINGTON, Jan. 21, 1999-Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman announced today that the nation's new, science-based, prevention-oriented meat and poultry inspection system has greatly reduced the incidence of Salmonella in some raw meat and poultry. Today''s announcement comes as nearly 3,000 small plants nationwide prepare to implement the new system, called "HACCP," on January 25. "By using modern science as our guide, we are succeeding in reducing the threat of foodborne illness for American families," Glickman said in remarks to the U.S Poultry and Egg Association's Annual Convention in Atlanta. "And President Clinton's plan for additional investments in cutting-edge food safety research and even more science-based inspections will lead to even more gains in our fight to ensure a safe food supply." Salmonella is a potentially deadly bacteria that sickens as many as 3.8 million Americans each year. The preliminary findings represent nine months of data collection in nearly 300 large plants that implemented the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system in Jan. 1998. The first data released for ground beef samples showed 7.5 percent testing positive for Salmonella prior to January, 1998 and only 4.3 percent testing positive after HACCP implementation, a decline of over 40 percent. The new data for chicken and pork continue positive trends reported several months ago. Of chicken carcasses, 20.0 percent tested positive for Salmonella before HACCP implementation, compared to 10.7 after implementation. That's a decline of nearly 50 percent. And 8.7 percent of swine tested positive prior to HACCP versus 6.2 percent after HACCP implementation, a decrease of more than 25 percent. There is insufficient data to draw conclusions about other categories of meat. The science-based HACCP inspection system requires plants to identify critical points along their production lines and ensure that practices at those points minimize bacterial contamination and growth. HACCP took effect in January 1998 at the nation's 300 largest plants. Small plants, those with between ten and 499 employees will come under HACCP on Jan. 25, 1999. Very small plants, those with fewer than ten employees, will implement HACCP in January 2000. Under HACCP, the federal government sets strict limits for the incidence of Salmonella allowed on raw meat or poultry. The nine month data indicate that 89 percent of HACCP plants for which there are adequate data meet or exceed the government's Salmonella performance standards. Plants that did not meet the standards were required to take immediate corrective measures. # NOTE: Access news releases and other information at the FSIS Web site on the World Wide Web at http://www.fsis.usda.gov
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