Should Salmonella Be Treated Like E. coli?
Agency has petitioned FSIS to declare salmonella an adulterant.
Meat Scientist Mohammad Koohmaraie suggested process control points rather than chemical dependency to help lessen the prevalence of salmonella. Salmonella prevalence is indicative of the conditions of production.
Salmonella is the most common enteric infection in the United States, and steps are being taken to crack down on the prevalence of the bacteria, said Mohammad Koohmaraie, meat scientist with IEH Consulting. He told attendees of the 30th International Livestock Congress (ILC–USA) in Houston, Texas, March 5, that salmonella is the second-most-common bacterial foodborne illness after campylobacter infection. There are an estimated 1.2 million cases of salmonellosis each year, and 95% of those are foodborne.
Salmonella is not a declared adulterant in raw meat and poultry, he said. The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) petitioned the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to declare salmonella an adulterant. E. coli O157:H7 is an adulterant, which means that no presence at all is allowed. If any is found in food, then that food item is recalled. However, he granted that an adulterant classification is not the same as zero tolerance.
He noted that FSIS contends that the meat industry is not implementing all available control measures. Based on his own research experience, Koohmaraie said he agrees. Because salmonella is not a “per se adulterant” in raw meat and poultry, positive results would not result in a recall without an outbreak of infection.
Right now, recalls are voluntary and require intense documentation for a recall to be called.
“Molecular typing is used in outbreak and traceback investigations. FSIS will ask for a voluntary recall when a direct link between an outbreak strain, patients, specific product lot and plant are all documented,” he said. “Any bacteria that harms humans should not be in foods.”
Koohmaraie said the petition called for adulterant status because of the success the beef industry has had with E. coli screening and control methods. While the two bacterias are not the same, he said, there are plans in place to decrease the prevalence of salmonella by 25%. The FSIS agency’s action plan includes multiple components. First, baseline studies would be done to determine the salmonella prevalence in each type of commodity. Based on the results of this study, performance standards would be set. To reach those federal standards, each industry would be responsible to make the needed changes.
Salmonella prevalence is indicative of the conditions of production. In the plan to decrease prevalence, conditions of the production process would be screened more regularly, though in a moving window, to ensure that prevention protocols are in place all the time. Letters of caution will be sent if issues are found and plants must fix the issue before a follow-up visit. Larger samples will be taken to enhance detection, going from a 25-gram sample to a required 325-gram sample.
Koohmaraie concluded that the poultry industry can and must do more to control salmonella, citing up to a 50% prevalence of the bacteria found in some plants. There is some low-hanging fruit, like process control points, not just chemical dependency. The industry’s vertical integration can help. There is good evidence that the FSIS approach can work; it just needs time to do so.
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