July 11, 2014    
 
USDA to modernise US poultry inspection

The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has sent its proposed rule to modernise the US poultry inspection system to the Office of Management and Budget's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) for review.

OIRA's review of the rule is the last hurdle before the rule becomes is accepted into the Federal Register. In its risk assessment accompanying the proposed rule, FSIS estimated that if implemented, this modernised system would prevent more than 5,200 foodborne illnesses annually.

Under the proposed rule, the USDA retains its supervisory role. The voluntary change would allow trained plant employees to check carcasses for defects and perform other quality-assurance tasks not related to food safety. That would free up some federal inspectors to focus more on food safety-related tasks, such as oversight and verification, microbiological testing for pathogens like Salmonella, sanitation standards and antimicrobial controls in the plant.

This system has been in place as a pilot in 20 chicken plants for the past 15 years, and has proven highly successful at improving food safety and protecting workers.

The US meat and poultry inspection system complements efforts by chicken processors to ensure that US supply of poultry products is safe and correctly labelled and packaged.