Salmonella Verification Testing Program Monthly Posting

Most Recent Posting

March 31, 2024 through March 29, 2025

FSIS posts the monthly reports on the Performance Category of Individual Raw Poultry Establishments and the Aggregate Salmonella Categorization for Raw Poultry Establishments on or about the 20th of the month. For the posting each month in Calendar Year 2025, the reference period for category assessment is:

Month of Posting	Reference Period
December 2024	December 03, 2023 - November 30, 2024
January 2025	December 31, 2023 - December 28, 2024
February 2025	January 28, 2024 - January 25, 2025
March 2025	February 25, 2024 - February 22, 2025
April 2025	March 31, 2024 - March 29, 2025
May 2025	April 28, 2024 - April 26, 2025
June 2025	June 02, 2024 - May 31, 2025
July 2025	June 30, 2024 - June 28, 2025
August 2025	July 28, 2024 - July 26, 2025
September 2025	September 01, 2024 - August 30, 2025
October 2025	September 29, 2024 - September 27, 2025
November 2025	October 27, 2024 - October 25, 2025
December 2025	December 01, 2024 - November 29, 2025
January 2026	December 29, 2024 - December 27, 2025

FSIS continuously samples (up to five times per month) poultry establishments producing young chicken and turkey carcasses, and raw chicken parts, so that it can more closely monitor an establishment's process control over time. FSIS also continuously samples NRTE comminuted chicken and turkey products for Salmonella.

FSIS uses these Salmonella sampling results to assess establishment performance during a reference period of one completed 52-week moving window based on a 3-category system. Establishments at or below half of the performance standard over the previous moving window are placed in Category 1, those that meet the standard in that period are placed in Category 2, and those that fail the standard in the previous moving window are placed in Category 3.

As FSIS announced in the November 9, 2018 Federal Register, FSIS will post on its website the category status of individual establishments for pathogen reduction performance standards for Salmonella in young chicken carcasses, young turkey carcasses, raw chicken parts, and NRTE comminuted chicken and turkey products, based on FSIS verification sampling results from one 52-week window, but not to include follow-up sampling. As the Federal Register outlines, the category definitions under verification sampling are as follows:

Category 1: Establishments that have achieved 50 percent or less of the maximum allowable percent positive during the most recent completed 52-week moving window.
Category 2: Establishments that meet the maximum allowable percent positive but have results greater than 50 percent of the maximum allowable percent positive during the most recent completed 52-week moving window.
Category 3: Establishments that have exceeded the maximum allowable percent positive during the most recent completed 52-week moving window.
NA: FSIS did not collect or analyze the minimum number of samples to categorize the establishment and the establishment has not exceeded the maximum number of positives allowed under the standard.
FSIS will exclude Salmonella Pilot Participants from monthly Salmonella web posting for the duration of each pilot. These participants are posted along with descriptions of each pilot on the FSIS Pilot Projects: Salmonella Control Strategies webpage.

Individual windows are defined as 52 consecutive Sunday-to-Saturday weeks. Category status is determined based on 52 weeks of data, i.e., the last completed 52-week moving window, ending on the last Saturday of the previous month.

Sampling results used in the monthly establishment category assignments are extracted from the FSIS data systems on approximately the 11th of the current month to allow at least 10 days of lab processing time for samples taken before the close of the last moving window to be included. For demonstration, data extracted on January 11, 2018 for the January web posting would include the completed moving window of samples taken through December 30, 2017.