The American Meat Institute (AMI) Foundation has produced a new video for September’s National Food Safety Education Month that shows how to properly use a thermometer to check the temperature in meat and poultry products. Research has shown that only 36% of Americans use a thermometer to make sure the meat and poultry they cook … Read more
U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) has introduced the Safe Meat and Poultry Act which aims to strengthen the country’s meat and poultry inspection system and reduce the number of foodborne illness outbreaks. Gillibrand, who is chairwoman of the Agriculture Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, Poultry, Marketing and Agriculture Security, said the financial and public health toll these outbreaks … Read more
The Government Accountability Office released an analysis yesterday of the HACCP-based Inspection Models Project (HIMP) in poultry slaughter. The USDA is using that project to justify a proposal to private poultry inspection in some plants in this country. The proposed rule, called “Modernization of Poultry Inspection” published in January 2012, would use untrained company employees … Read more
Remember when we told you last year to not wash turkeys and chickens before you cook them? Washing just spreads pathogenic bacteria around the kitchen. Now there’s visual proof of what happens when raw meat is rinsed under the kitchen faucet. Drexel University has launched a new campaign called “Don’t Wash Your Chicken” to urge … Read more
The recall of chicken for dioxin contamination that was imported from Chile has expanded according to the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). The government of Chile notified U.S. officials that the chicken tested positive for the carcinogenic substance. As of today, 343,637 pounds of chicken may be affected and 155,595 pounds is currently being … Read more
A study currently being reviewed by the USDA has found that chemicals sprayed on chickens after slaughter may mask Salmonella when the birds are being tested before distribution. The poultry industry uses antimicrobial compounds to reduce pathogens on chickens while they are being processed. If the compound is removed or inactivated after the chickens have been … Read more
A study conducted at Penn State has found that raw, whole chickens from farmers markets throughout that state had “significantly higher levels of bacteria that can cause foodborne illness compared to those purchased from grocery stores in the region.” Out of 100 whole chickens purchased at farmers markets, 90% tested positive for Campylobacter and 28% for … Read more
A report from the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment in the Netherlands states that the Dutch government “intends to limit the level of Campylobacter bacteria on chicken meat, a so-called process hygiene criterion.” That means that if higher levels of the bacteria are found repeatedly in a particular slaughterhouse, that facility will … Read more
Researchers at the University of Georgia Athens have found a link between bacterial pathogens on poultry farms and on processed chicken. The study was published online ahead of print in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology. The scientists evaluated “prevalences and loads of Salmonella and Campylobacter in farm and processing plant samples collected from 55 commercial broiler … Read more
The World Health Organization updated the status of the avian influenza A (H7N9) virus in China yesterday. The National Health and Family Planning Commission of China notified WHO of an additional fifteen lab-confirmed cases of the virus. Three additional deaths were reported. To date, there are 102 lab confirmed cases, including 20 deaths. Sixty-seven patients … Read more