In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we chat with Dr. John Butts, Principal at Food Safety By Design LLC and the Advisor to the CEO at Land O' Frost Inc., about Upton Sinclair’s groundbreaking 1906 novel, The Jungle. We discuss parallels between today’s food safety landscape and the food safety challenges of the meatpacking industry in the early 20^th century, as well as where the next half-century may take the food sector.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA’s FSIS) will host two webinars to provide an overview of the revised 2021 Cooking Guideline for Meat and Poultry Products (Revised Appendix A) and 2021 Stabilization Guideline for Meat and Poultry Products (Revised Appendix B).

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service (USDA’s AMS) has announced that an additional $21.9 million of funding is being awarded to 111 grant projects through the Meat and Poultry Inspection Readiness Grant Program (MPIRG), bringing total funding to $54.6 million.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA’s FSIS) has reviewed its investigation of a 2018–2019 foodborne illness outbreak involving chicken contaminated by a multi-drug resistant Salmonella Infantis strain, which was the first time that FSIS identified a strain as “persistent.”

A recent study of hatcheries has demonstrated the efficacy of tailored advice on preventive controls for Salmonella, as well as provided insight into the prevalence of the pathogen in commercial British hatcheries.

Salmonella prevalence has decreased significantly in the past three decades due to processing changes, but human illness cases from Salmonella have not decreased proportionally. To understand and eventually reduce the risk of salmonellosis from poultry meat, it is necessary to understand the poultry production system, the introduction of the microorganism into the poultry ecosystem (as well as its gastrointestinal tract), the sources of Salmonella during production, and, subsequently, strategies to control or reduce the risk from this microorganism at both the pre-and post-harvest stages.

A recent Swedish study explores the relationship between the incidence of campylobacteriosis and the prevalence of Campylobacter in poultry broilers.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA’s FSIS) has announced that it will conduct a study about the effect of increased poultry line speeds on worker safety. Establishments that have received a line speed waiver under the New Poultry Inspection System must apply to participate in the study and receive a modified waiver.

A session at the 2022 International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) Annual Meeting discussed recent developments in applications of predictive tools for meat and poultry products.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA’s FSIS) will soon declare Salmonella to be an adulterant in breaded and stuffed raw chicken products.