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| FSIS Announces 2003 Salmonella Data on Web Site
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Congressional and Public Affairs
(202) 720-9113
Matt Baun
WASHINGTON, August 5, 2004 - The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service
(FSIS) today released regulatory sampling data showing a continued downward trend in positive tests for Salmonella.
The Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) rule, implemented July 25, 1996, established Salmonella performance
standards in seven categories of meat and poultry products; broilers; market hogs; cows/bulls; steer/heifer; ground beef;
ground chicken; and ground turkey. As one part of an extensive science-based food safety system, FSIS collects and analyzes
Salmonella samples to verify compliance with HACCP requirements. The testing program was designed to track establishment
performance, therefore it may not be reflective of the nationwide prevalence of Salmonella in these products.
Despite minor yearly fluctuations in individual categories, Salmonella rates in all classes of products have decreased to
levels well below the HACCP baseline prevalence estimates. Of the random regulatory samples collected and analyzed by FSIS
in CY 2003, 3.8 percent tested positive for Salmonella, as compared with 4.29 percent in CY 2002; 5.03 percent in CY 2001; 5.31
percent in CY 2000; 7.26 percent in CY1999; and 10.65 percent in CY 1998.
Regulatory sampling results for 2003 as compared to the performance standard established in the PR/HACCP rule are as follows: broilers,
12.8 percent compared to a standard of 20 percent; market hogs, 2.5 percent compared to a standard of 8.7 percent; cows/bulls, 1.5 percent
compared to a standard of 2.7 percent; steer/heifer, 0.4 percent compared to a standard of 1 percent; ground beef, 1.7 percent compared to
a standard of 7.5 percent; ground chicken, 35.5 percent compared to a standard of 44.6 percent; and ground turkey, 25.4 percent compared to
a standard of 49.9 percent.
While the regulatory prevalence of Salmonella across all seven product categories continued to decrease in 2003, FSIS is concerned that the
percentage of positive Salmonella tests (all sizes of establishments combined) increased slightly in three poultry categories.
The agency will be examining Salmonella testing data from 1998 to the present in order to clearly identify those plants displaying negative
performance trends. Enforcement Investigations Analysis Officers will then conduct in-depth HACCP and sanitation verification reviews at
those facilities to help ensure that this one year increase does not continue. FSIS compares regulatory testing results to the baseline
prevalence measures used in the HACCP program to provide context to the yearly data.
Since 2000, all classes of meat and poultry plants have been subject to Salmonella testing. To ensure that yearly variations in the proportion
of samples collected from the seven categories were not responsible for the overall decline in the percentage of positive samples, FSIS weighted
the four years of data against the proportion of samples by category in the year 2000. The results show a steady decrease in positive samples
in each year of HACCP verification testing.
The Salmonella testing data can be found online at: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/science/microbiology/
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