Meat/Poultry

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USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS) sampled and tested meat, chicken, and Siluriformes fish (catfish) for 16 per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), detecting “forever chemicals” in less than 0.2–0.3 percent of all sample types except wild-caught catfish, of which nearly half contained at least one PFAS.

In an April 25 speech, UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) Chief Executive Katie Pettifer described efforts FSA is taking to improve meat industry regulation, including supporting the adoption of new technologies, negotiating international trade agreements, addressing inspector and veterinarian workforce shortages, evaluating inspection charge discounts, and tackling food crime.

USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS) has withdrawn the long-awaited proposed regulatory framework for Salmonella in raw poultry, which was designed to reduce the cases of human salmonellosis attributable to poultry consumption, saying that additional consideration is needed based on public comments. 

According to FOODAKAI’s Global Food Recall Index, the first quarter of 2025 has seen significant increases in food product recalls across the dairy, poultry, and produce categories internationally.

In May 2024, USDA-FSIS published a final determination setting levels at which Salmonella would be considered an adulterant in not-ready-to-eat (NRTE), breaded and stuffed chicken products, which also established a verification sampling program and a requirement for establishments to reassess their HACCP plans. FSIS has delayed the date for its sampling program and the HACCP reviews from May to November, 2025.

Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) has approved its first cell-based food product—quail meat—bringing the product closer to market and establishing a regulatory framework in the national Food Standards Code.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has alerted the public that pathogens resistant to last-resort carbapenem antibiotics are increasingly being found in European food animals and food products.

After an investigation by the UK Food Standards Agency, four men and one business have been convicted for diverting meat and animal byproducts that were deemed unsafe for human consumption back into the human food market.

A study from Public Health Agency of Canada researchers raised concerns about the persistence of Salmonella and Campylobacter in broiler chickens that are resistant to important Category I antimicrobials.

Consumer Reports recently released a report revealing the “most contaminated” poultry plants in the U.S., based on an analysis of USDA-FSIS Salmonella testing data.