USDA is withdrawing the salmonella framework it proposed last summer after years of study, drawing praise from the broiler industry but sparking concern from consumer advocates.

In July, the Food Safety and Inspection Service released its proposed framework for raw chicken carcasses, chicken parts, ground chicken and ground turkey. The proposal would have declared salmonella an adulterant if those products had levels at or above 10 colony-forming units per gram and prevented them from entering the market or made them subject to recall.

FSIS received over 7,000 comments on the proposal during the comment period, which closed Jan. 15. Many of them focused on the legal authority to propose the final product standards, the salmonella levels and serotypes for these standards, scientific data used to support the rule and the economic impact. 

“While FSIS continues to support the goal of reducing Salmonella illnesses associated with poultry products, the agency believes that the comments have raised several important issues that warrant further consideration,” the agency wrote in the Federal Register document due for publication tomorrow

Based on the stakeholder input, FSIS will evaluate if it should update current poultry salmonella performance standards, according to the agency's constituent update.

The National Chicken Council previously took issue with the proposal, calling it legally unsound. The group also argued that it would have led to food waste and increased costs for producers and consumers with no meaningful impact on public health.

“We appreciate today’s announcement by FSIS and share their goal of protecting public health,” said Ashley Peterson, NCC senior vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs. “We look forward to working with the agency on an approach to build on the industry’s tremendous progress in reducing salmonella on chicken products through policy that is based on sound science, is implementable, and will have a meaningful and measured impact on public health.”

Food safety and consumer advocates who previously celebrated the proposal said the withdrawal is a major blow.

Brian Ronholm, director of food policy at Consumer Reports, called the decision “disappointing” and “troubling” considering the number of poultry plants that pose a risk of a salmonella outbreak. CR recently conducted an analysis that found a large number of these plants have high levels of salmonella contamination, and urged USDA to strengthen the proposed framework.

“Salmonella infections from poultry have increased steadily over the past decade and sicken hundreds of thousands of Americans every year,” Ronholm said in a statement. “Consumers deserve better safeguards against salmonella and other threats to our food supply.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that salmonella causes over 1.35 million human infections each year in the United States. FSIS estimates that of these illnesses, 125,000 are associated with chicken and almost 43,000 with turkey.

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“Thousands of people get sick and worse from eating contaminated poultry,” said Sandy Eskin, a former deputy undersecretary for food safety at USDA who now leads Stop Foodborne Illness. “There are steps that the government can take, as well as industry, to substantially reduce those illnesses which are preventable.”

Even ahead of the proposal, FSIS and USDA held meetings and provided opportunities for early input, Eskin said. Given the number of comments and the timeline, Eskin said it’s unlikely all feedback was even reviewed. 

“It’s premature, and obviously proposals change, get tweaked, get revised in light of comments,” Eskin said. “What the administration has done is stopped that process in its tracks.” 

FSIS started gathering data to inform the framework in 2021.

Eskin compared the federal proposals to make salmonella an adulterant at certain levels to previous action on E. coli. When FSIS made a strain of the pathogen an adulterant, it brought down E. coli infections linked to beef by half. 

“That is a clear indication that smart policy … and industry practices can reduce these really horrific illnesses,” Eskin said. 

The move also comes after a January report by the Government Accountability Office found that USDA has lagged in finalizing new salmonella standards in meat or poultry products. 

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