Food Safety and Inspection Service United States Department of Agriculture Washington, D.C. 20250-3700

Food Safety and Inspection Service Research Priorities

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is the public health regulatory agency responsible for ensuring that meat, poultry and egg products are safe, wholesome and accurately labeled.  Research plays an important role in FSIS’ ability to fulfill its public health mission and guarantee that the foods it regulates continue to be the safest in the world.  FSIS does not carry out its own research; rather it depends on both the public and private research communities--in particular, USDA's Research, Education and Economics (REE) mission area--to conduct the research vital to its mission.

The following are FSIS’ top research priorities, grouped by research category.

I.  INTERVENTION STRATEGIES

Development of improved on-farm, feedlot, and antemortem interventions for reducing the incidence and levels of pathogens in raw products.

This is of major importance to FSIS because reduced pathogen loads on animals presented for slaughter in many cases results in decreased pathogen loads on carcasses and resulting products.  Preharvest research conducted by ARS of Salmonella in broilers demonstrated the effectiveness of hatching cabinet treatments on reduction in Salmonella in poultry broiler flocks presented for slaughter.  Much of the broiler industry has adopted these changes with a resulting reduction of Salmonella contamination in the finished product.  Similar interventions to reduce E. coli O157:H7 in beef, further studies for reduction of Salmonella spp. in poultry, beef, and pork and interventions to reduce Campylobacter jejuni/coli in poultry are the most urgent research needs for FSIS. 

Development of validated cooking temperatures for food handlers.

Research studies conducted by ARS helped FSIS determine proper cooking temperatures for ground beef patties to kill E. coli O157:H7.  This information was used to educate consumers, as well as food handlers, about safe cooking practices.  A recent outbreak involving pin/blade-tenderized steaks has demonstrated that cooking temperature studies need to be developed for that product as well.  It is apparent that as new products are developed and reach the market, appropriate cooking methods will need to be validated.  We anticipate that this research need will be ongoing and evolving as the food industry changes.

Development of improved slaughter, fabrication, and further processing methods to reduce E. coli O157:H7 in bovine products, Salmonella in poultry, bovine, and porcine products, Campylobacter jejuni/coli in poultry products and Listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-eat foods. 

FSIS continues to work with the meat and poultry industry to achieve continued reductions of pathogen contamination of food through effective HACCP implementation.  Additional gains, however, will be achieved through the use of new technologies to prevent, interdict, or mitigate contamination.  Examples include further clarification of which aspects of carcass handling early in the slaughter process are most likely to cause contamination of the carcass.  Other possible technologies include antimicrobial agents that could be used on the carcass and product formulations that inhibit or prevent pathogen growth. 

Other research needs in intervention include:

• Development of methods to prevent Listeria monocytogenes contamination in the post process production environment for ready-to-eat foods.

II.  METHODS DEVELOPMENT  (SAMPLING AND DETECTION)

Development of sensitive high-throughput and/or automated laboratory methods for quantifying Salmonella spp, E. coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes, Campylobacter spp.  and Clostridium perfringens in raw and ready-to-eat meat and poultry products.

Reliable, efficient quantitative methods are needed to develop data to utilize dose-response estimates in risk assessments, to evaluate intervention strategies, to evaluate process control in plants and to develop meaningful baseline data for some pathogens.

Refinement of sampling protocols to better represent product and production environment. 

Some examples of sampling protocols needed by FSIS for forensic purposes are: bovine carcass mapping to determine likely sites for detection of Salmonella and E. coli O157:H7; environmental contamination by Listeria monocytogenes; and strategic sites for plant sampling to detect E. coli O157:H7. The strategic site sampling information would be used by FSIS as an investigational tool for forensic analysis of plant contamination.

Other methods development research needs include:

• Development of assays for detection and quantitation of drug and chemical residues in food products;
• Development of online screening assays for detection of food-borne pathogens;
• Development of automated sample preparation methods.

III.  FOOD SECURITY

FSIS inspection procedures and policy recommendations, including HACCP, have previously addressed pathogens that occurred a result of natural contamination of the food supply.  With the increasing concern regarding intentional threats to the food supply, multiple areas of food security research are needed by FSIS. 

Development of validated analytical methods to detect threat agents in food matrices, including laboratory confirmation, high throughput assays and robust rapid screening assays that can be used outside of the laboratory environment.

Currently there are no validated peer-reviewed methods for detection of threat agents in food.  If an intentional attack on the food supply system should occur, FSIS will need validated methods capable of screening large numbers of samples.  In addition, the occurrence of an intentional event will require robust peer-reviewed validated methods that are admissible in court.   

Other food security research priorities include:

• Development of a statistically valid sampling system for screening the nation’s food supply;
• Operational risk management information to assist in development of  Food Shields;
• Development of tamper detection indicators for food packages;
• Development of methods to deactivate/neutralize threat agent hazards in food and studies to determine the effects of these processes on food quality; and
• Development of decontamination technologies to safely clean food processing,          distribution, and storage operations contaminated with threat agents.

IV.  RISK ASSESSMENT AND COST/BENEFIT ANALYSIS

Risk Assessment: A better understanding of food safety hazards is needed by FSIS in order to further develop science-based policies and regulations. 

Knowledge of the proportion of food-borne illness that is due to direct consumption of contaminated meat and poultry products versus illness due to cross-contamination in kitchens or retail stores. 

Risk assessments designed to model critical parts of the-farm-to-table food chain for pathogens in food require significant amounts of data to support the development of mathematical models of key links in the chain at which contamination of product or exposure to the consumer can occur.  For a number of pathogens, the relative importance of direct contamination versus cross-contamination is not known.  The data that are needed to improve the farm-to-table risk assessment will be provided by studying cross- contamination by retail food handlers and consumers in the home.

Knowledge of factors that increase pathogens on or within the product (plant handling of product, inspection practices and procedures that might create cross-contamination, and cross-contamination from other sources, such as further processing practices). 

Recent information suggests that some slaughter, processing and inspection practices such as hide removal, tenderization and marinating cuts and inspection of the head may contribute to cross-contamination and increase the pathogen load in the carcass or product.  Further research in these areas would help both FSIS and industry make educated decisions regarding practices that need to be modified. 

Other research needed to support risk assessments include:

• Knowledge of consumer practices that provide data regarding consumer handling and storage practices that may be incorporated into risk assessments;
• Information about pathogen type and quantity in pre-processed egg products and on shell eggs; and
• Knowledge of foods that support growth of Listeria monocytogenes and information about what lethality steps are needed for products other than cooked meat and poultry.

Cost/Benefit Analysis: The costs to industry of food safety regulations can be significant.  With enhanced access to data and economic analysis, FSIS will be better positioned to assess the benefits and costs of regulatory and non-regulatory policy alternatives in expanding areas of potential policy intervention.  Such areas will become more visible as risk assessment results accumulate.  As the agency decides whether or not to propose regulatory actions on the basis of the risk assessment information gained, the results of economic analysis are indispensable in forming a sound basis for such decisions. 

Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy regulatory actions.

Research support from other USDA agencies involving the analysis of costs and benefits is needed by FSIS to deal with the significant emergent issues involving BSE.  While FSIS will be able to address the effects of a ban on specified SRMs, support from REE is needed to assess the long term costs and benefits of a ban.  The costs and benefits of any expansion of an SRM ban, should an expansion be necessary and the costs and benefits of other issues that may be raised by FSIS in its ongoing efforts to protect the public health need to be evaluated.

Other proposed projects requiring cost/benefit analysis include:

• Performance standards for ready-to-eat products;
• Egg product inspection regulations;
• Animal and product identification throughout the food chain;
• HACCP based inspection systems; and
• Performance standards for product produced through advanced meat recovery systems.

V.  Methods for Evaluating Program Effectiveness 

One of the challenges facing FSIS is how to effectively communicate food safety education and risk communication to the consumer.  FSIS will not have an effective farm-to–table food safety program until the consumer is actively engaged. 

Methods to measure the effectiveness of food safety education and risk communication to the consumer.

Providing food safety education to food handlers in homes, restaurants, and institutions does not automatically ensure that a behavior change will occur.  Methods are needed to evaluate the effectiveness of education in affecting food safety behavior to determine if programs are cost effective and improve public health.

For Further Information Contact:

• Media Inquiries: (202) 720-9113
• Congressional Inquiries: (202) 720-3897
• Constituent Inquiries: (202) 720-9113
• Consumer Inquiries: Call the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline at 1-888-MPHotline; TTY: 1-800-256-7072.

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