CBS/AP – The United States Department of Agriculture is withdrawing a rule proposed in August to help prevent food poisoning from poultry contaminated with salmonella.
The Biden Administration effort, which had been in development for three years, would have required poultry companies to keep levels of salmonella bacteria under a certain threshold and test for the presence of six strains most associated with illness.
If any of those strains were found or standard levels were exceeded, the poultry couldn’t be sold and would be subject to recall, the proposal had said.
In an update posted Thursday, the department’s Food Safety and Inspection Services said it was withdrawing the proposed rule “to further assess its approach for addressing Salmonella illnesses associated with poultry product.”
The food safety officials cited feedback from more than 7,000 public comments and said they would “evaluate whether it should update” current salmonella regulations.
…article continued below
– Advertisement –
The USDA has estimated there are 125,000 salmonella infections from chicken and 43,000 from turkey each year.
The withdrawal drew praise from the National Chicken Council …