By Mary Van Beusekom
The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report today calling for the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to finalize food-safety standards for the bacteria Salmonella, Campylobacter, and Listeria in meat and poultry.
The report is an update of previous GAO reports on USDA actions to reduce foodborne pathogens and the challenges it faced in doing so. The authors interviewed agency officials and food-safety and industry organizations and visited a Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) lab.
FSIS paused work on 4 standards since 2019
"In 2018 USDA designated Salmonella as harmful when it's present above certain levels in uncooked breaded stuffed chicken products," the report said. "However, since that time, FSIS has not finalized any new or updated standards for Campylobacter and other illness-causing pathogens in meat and poultry products."
Also, after first proposing them in 2019, the FSIS paused work on standards for Salmonella in raw ground beef and beef trimmings and Campylobacter in ground chicken and turkey that has been heat-treated but not fully cooked. A standard for Salmonella in raw ground pork proposed in 2022 has also been paused. Work is ongoing on a framework for standards for Salmonella in raw poultry first proposed last year.
"They did not know when the framework would be finalized or have a prioritization plan or time frame for resuming work on the other standards," the GAO said. "FSIS officials could not confirm that the agency had assessed whether focusing on this framework has caused gaps in its oversight of Salmonella in meat and Campylobacter in turkey products."
The report said that FSIS must develop and update standards within its limited control outside of the slaughterhouses and processing plants it oversees.
The USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has jurisdiction over farms, where pathogens can infect animals before slaughter and processing. "FSIS and APHIS's 2014 memorandum of understanding (MOU) for coordinating responses to foodborne illness outbreaks does not identify or detail the agencies' responsibilities in addressing and responding to specific pathogens that occur on farms and can subsequently enter plants," the authors wrote.
The GAO news release, which noted the 2024 US foodborne-illness outbreak related to Listeria-contaminated Boar's Head deli meat, said that harmful bacteria in food sickens 1 in 6 people in the United States each year, killing thousands. The deli-meat outbreak sickened 61 people in 19 states and killed 10. "Improving federal oversight of food safety has been on GAO's High Risk List since 2007," the GAO said.
Recommendations to food-safety officials
In the report, the GAO recommended that the FSIS:
- Develop a prioritization plan to fully document which food products to address and the policies needed to reduce Salmonella in meat and create standards for Campylobacter in turkey parts.
- Review the public health effects (eg, risk to human health, gaps in oversight) of delaying completion of the proposed standards for Salmonella in meat and for Campylobacter in turkey parts.
- Update its MOU with APHIS or create a new agreement to clearly identify pathogens of concern and delineate each agency's responsibilities in coordinating and responding to these pathogens in outbreak investigations. APHIS should do the same.
- Offer educational materials such as signage on sanitation to its regulated plants to support efforts to comply with requirements and provide guidance to reduce the spread of pathogens in meat and poultry products.
The FSIS neither agreed nor disagreed with the recommendations, the GAO said.
Source : umn.edu