The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) proposed new federal standards to reduce Salmonella and Campylobacter in ground chicken and turkey products as well as raw chicken breasts, legs and wings, according to a USDA news release.
A pathogen reduction performance standard is the measure that FSIS uses to assess the food safety performance of facilities that prepare meat and poultry products. By making the standards for ground poultry tougher to meet, ground poultry products nationwide will have less contamination and therefore result in fewer foodborne illnesses.
Salmonella and Campylobacter are illnesses caused by bacteria. Salmonella illness usually lasts four to seven days and is one of the most common causes of food poisoning in the United States. Campylobacter is the second most common cause of foodborne illness and typically lasts about one week.