USDA Opens Registration for Public Meeting on Salmonella Reduction Strategies

The United States Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) this week announced that it is opening registration for a special public meeting on strategies to reduce Salmonella illnesses attributed to poultry products. 

The meeting, scheduled for January 14th, 2026, is part of an effort by the FSIS to gather input “on how to address Salmonella through better use of data, alternative performance standard parameters, and policy options that reflect both public health goals and industry realities."

The USDA said that the meeting will place a strong emphasis on how small and very small producers can better handle Salmonella prevention and reduction measures.

The public meeting will be held less than a year after the USDA withdrew a proposed Salmonella framework for raw poultry products. Originally published in October 2022, the proposed regulatory framework included three key components meant to control Salmonella in poultry:

• Requiring that establishments characterize Salmonella as a hazard reasonably likely to occur at the receiving area and that incoming flocks be tested for Salmonella before entering an establishment. 
• Enhancing establishment process control monitoring and FSIS verification. 
• Implementing an enforceable final product standard that would define whether certain raw poultry products contaminated with certain levels and/or serotypes of Salmonella are adulterated.

The FSIS stated that it received 7,089 comments on the proposed framework during the comment period. The issues that generated the most comments included the proposed Salmonella levels and serotypes for the final product standards, the proposed use of statistical process control (SPC) monitoring, the scientific and technical information used to support the proposed framework, the potential economic impacts of the framework, and more. 

Under the proposed framework, poultry products that contain levels of Salmonella higher than 10 colony-forming units per gram or any detectable amount of the most highly virulent serotypes would be considered adulterated, preventing them from being sold. 

“The Biden-era proposal would have imposed significant financial and operational burdens on American businesses and consumers, failing to consider an effective and achievable approach to address Salmonella in poultry products," the USDA press office said, in a reply to CIDRAP news.

The USDA’s decision is disappointing and troubling given the large number of poultry plants that have been found to pose a higher risk of triggering a Salmonella outbreak,” Brian Ronholm, MA, director of food policy at Consumer Reports said in April. 

Ronholm added that “Salmonella infections from poultry have increased steadily over the past decade and sicken hundreds of thousands of Americans every year. Consumers deserve better safeguards against Salmonella and other threats to our food supply.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Salmonella-contaminated chicken causes an estimated 195,634 illnesses per year. Symptoms of Salmonella infection often include nausea, vomiting, severe stomach cramps, diarrhea, and low-grade fever. 

In October, Presidential nominee for USDA Undersecretary of Food Safety, Mindy Brashears, discussed her top priorities if confirmed for the position. 

Brashears, who would oversee the FSIS, said that she would prioritize Salmonella control and advocated for a science-based, data-driven approach to the matter. She also said that E. coli and Listeria would remain priorities for the agency.