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United States Department of Agriculture
Washington, D.C. 20250-3700

Pathogen Reduction/HACCP & HACCP Implementation

Update as of May 15, 2001

Redesign
Achievement of Performance Standards in Young Chicken Plants

The table compares the performance of volunteer broiler plants under the traditional inspection system versus the HACCP-based Inspection Models Project system (HIMP).

Column 1
The first column, "Defect Categories," identifies the two Food Safety and five Other Consumer Protection (OCP) defect conditions.

Column 2
*RTI veterinarians collected data on the performance of plants operating under the traditional inspection system. RTI examined broilers in 16 volunteer broiler plants. FSIS used this data to develop the "Performance Standards Based on Traditional Inspection" shown in column 2.

RTI found carcasses with defects at a rate of 0.1% for Food Safety 1 and 1.5% for Food Safety 2 in the 12th (of 16) participating plants. However, the performance standard is zero because FSIS has a zero tolerance policy for Food Safety 1 and Food Safety 2.

For each OCP condition, the performance standard is the result obtained in the 12th (of 16) participating plants.

Column 3
To date, FSIS inspectors are collecting data from 14 plants operating under HIMP. Column 3 presents the average performance in each category for the 14 plants operating under HIMP.

*RTI (Research Triangle Institute), an independent consulting firm.

Defect Categories Pilot Performance Standards Based on Traditional Inspection
(% of carcasses)

HIMP Plant Performance During FSIS Inspector Verification Checks from 14 Plants (Average)*
(% of carcasses)
 

Food Safety 1

Condition- Infectious
(e.g., Septicemia, toxemia)

 

0.1%**

 

0.001%

Food Safety 2

Contamination-
Digestive Content
(e.g., fecal material)

 

1.5%**

 

0.1%
 

OCP 1

Condition-
Animal Diseases
(e.g., airsacculitis)

 

1.7%

 

1.0%

OCP 2

Condition- Miscellaneous
(e.g., bruises, sores, and other processing defects)

 

52.5%

 

26.3%

OCP 3

Contamination-
Digestive Content
(e.g., ingesta)

 

18.6%

 

9.6%

OCP 4

Dressing Defects- Other
(e.g., feathers)

 

80.0%

 

54.4%

OCP 5

Dressing Defects- Digestive Tract Tissue
(e.g., bursa, cloaca)

 

20.8%

 

7.0%

Dates Covered: 9/18/00 – 4/30/01 in two HIMP plants

11/6/00 – 4/30/01 in twelve HIMP plants

* Includes 14 Plants: Gold Kist, Rocco Farm Foods, Choctaw Foods, Claxton Poultry, Townsends Inc -AR, Cagle’s – AL, Amick Farms, Cagles-Keystone – KY, Columbia Farms, Marshal Durbin – AL, Marshal Durbin – MS, OK Foods, Townsends Inc – NC, and Golden Rod.

607,920 birds selected for food safety verification checks

179,830 birds selected for Other Consumer Protection verification checks

** FSIS has a zero tolerance policy for Food Safety 1 & 2

 

For Further Information Contact:

Pathogen Reduction/HACCP Page | FSIS Home Page | USDA Home Page