Permitted Poison

 Salmonella is the second leading cause of food poisoning in the US, making an estimated 1.35 million Americans sick annually, and leading to about 26,500 hospitalisations and 420 deaths.

US Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulations aim to curtail – but not eliminate – the bacteria. Under the current “performance standards”, for example, up to 15.4% of chicken parts leaving a processing plant are permitted to test positive for salmonella. 

Contamination exceeds those levels in about one in 10 plants, according to a report in July by the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). Chicken and turkey are responsible for about a fifth of infections – more than any other food category.

 The infection rate remains stubbornly high. A 2020 CDC report said: “The incidence of most infections transmitted commonly through food has not declined for many years.” It found that the incidence of illnesses, hospitalisations and deaths due to salmonella rose by 5% in 2019 compared with the previous three years.

Current regulations for salmonella in poultry are “antiquated”, says Brian Ronholm, director of food policy for the US non-profit organisation Consumer Reports, who has called for stronger enforceable standards over the salmonella strains that pose the greatest public health risk.

Advocacy groups have petitioned the USDA, without success, to enact a zero-tolerance policy for certain types of salmonella in poultry.  A federal court ruled that the USDA could not shut down a plant for failing to meet salmonella standards because the bacteria occur naturally in animals and can be destroyed by proper cooking.

Chemical washes do not kill all bacteria.

“If you want to eliminate the worst types of salmonella, you really do have to start at the farm because that’s where the pathogens are spreading between animals,” says Sarah Sorscher, deputy director of regulatory affairs at the Washington-based Center for Science in the Public Interest.  . That might involve vaccinating poultry and regularly testing flocks to control a worrisome strain before it spreads, she adds.

Reducing nastier strains of salmonella before poultry reaches the slaughterhouse has been proven to work. 

 Trade organisations claim the FSIS has no jurisdiction over farms and cannot legally compel processors to take responsibility for how poultry growers raise their birds.

Why salmonella is a food poisoning killer that won’t go away in the US | Food safety | The Guardian