WASHINGTON -- New federal regulations on the presence of naturally occurring salmonella and campylobacter on raw poultry are unsupported by science and contrary to law and should be withdrawn, the National Chicken Council has stated.
"The chicken industry recognizes the importance of preventing foodborne illness and enhancing public health protection," NCC said in comments filed with USDA's Food Safety & Inspection Service in response to its Notice setting new standards for microbiological profiles of raw poultry. "The industry has made great strides in recent years in reducing the number of broiler carcasses testing positive for salmonella, achieving a two-fold reduction in the prevalence of salmonella on chicken carcasses on a national basis since the industry's voluntary adoption of the NCC Salmonella Reduction program in 2004," NCC added.
However, NCC's comments said, there is no scientific justification for USDA's claim that changing its "performance standard" for salmonella on raw chickens, and establishing a new one for campylobacter, will reduce foodborne illness in humans. In fact, NCC noted, the burden of salmonellosis in the country has actually increased slightly in recent years even as the chicken industry successfully reduced the prevalence of salmonella on raw chickens. Salmonella is found in a wide variety of uncooked foods.
The American Meat Institute, which represents more than 90 percent of the nation's beef, pork, lamb and veal, and a majority of turkey produced in the U.S., suggested that the USDA "goal of improving public health through the use of performance standards has not been achieved."
USDA's belief that implementing stricter performance standards will decrease human illnesses is "theoretical," AMI stated.
AMI called on USDA to conduct a comprehensive scientific and thechnical review of the new performance standards for salmonella and campylobacter in young chickens and turkeys to determine the impact of the revised standards on public health before they are implemented in federal establishements.
"AMI supports achievable performance standards based on sound science that significantly improve public health through quantifiable metrics," the association said.
The National Chicken Council noted that the scientific justification presented by USDA for its new performance standard, titled "Potential Public Health Impact of Salmonella and Campylobacter Performance Guidance for Young Chickens and Turkeys," states specifically that the document is "not a risk assessment" and gives only general estimates of the impact of the new standard on human illness. FSIS fails to cite any evidence connecting salmonella presence on chicken to cases of human illness because there are no such data, NCC said. "It is illogical to discuss reducing the risk to humans without conducting a legitimate scientific risk assessment and publishing it for review and comment," NCC added.
Moreover, NCC said, the new government standards have been adopted in violation of federal law governing new regulations, and go beyond FSIS's legal authority. NCC explained that the decision of the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of Supreme Beef Processors vs. USDA made it clear that salmonella, by itself, is not an adulterant in meat and poultry and that USDA therefore lacks legal authority to regulate it. Salmonella and campylobacter on raw products are easily destroyed by the heat of normal cooking, NCC noted.
"FSIS has announced significant changes to the current salmonella performance standard and imposed substantial new obligations necessary to meet the campylobacter performance standard," NCC said.
"These regulations are likely to increase costs significantly for processors and will result in little or no positive impact on human illness and public health. Given that FSIS' legal standing and approach to promulgating standards is shaky at best, that the agency clearly violates the requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), and that the new standards are beyond the agency's statutory authority, arbitrary and capricious, and not supported by science, NCC strongly objects to the agency's planned implementation of these standards. Accordingly, NCC requests that FSIS withdraw the Notice and reconsider its legal and scientific basis," the NCC comment said.
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