Once instituted, the new Test and Hold policy will allow USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to require all establishments to hold the meat and poultry products until the required testing has come back negative.
This policy has been recommended by the USDA for some time now, and it reports that a significant number of establishments already comply with this.
However, there are some establishments that regularly allow their products to go into commerce without waiting for that negative test result to come back.
Currently, there is no official date for this policy to go into effect. A 90 day comment period starts today. After the USDA hears from the public, consumer advocates, and the meat industry, it will decide whether any changes are needed before deciding when to institute the policy.
"If this policy had been required, we could have avoided 44 Class I recalls (between 2007-2009)," stated Agriculture Secretary, Tom Vilsack. According to the FSIS website, a Class I recall involves a health hazard situation in which there is a reasonable probability that eating the food will cause health problems or death. "This policy will help decrease recalls, which will increase consumer safety and confidence."
"This policy is a win-win situation for everybody. It's a win for consumers because there is less risk for foodborne illness, and it's a win for the industry because they should be spending less money on recalls," stated Under Secretary for Food Safety Dr. Elisabeth Hagen.
"Everything we are about here is prevention. This is just one more tool that we have in our toolbox to prevent Americans from harm," she stated.
In addition, on March 16th, USDA announced implementation of revised and new performance standards aimed at reducing the prevalence of Salmonella and Campylobacter in chicken and turkey. The new standards are expected to prevent as many as 25,000 foodborne illnesses.
Just last weekend, there was a recall of nearly 55,000 pounds of Jennie-O frozen raw turkey burgers due to contamination with Salmonella bacteria.
The CDC announced yesterday that this particular strain of Salmonella Hadar bacteria was found to be resistant to multiple antibiotics. From April 1st, there have been 12 people sickened with this Salmonella strain, ranging in age from 1 to 86 years old.
3 people have been hospitalized, but no deaths have been reported so far. The illnesses were reported in 10 states, currently no illnesses have been reported in Pennsylvania, New Jersey or Delaware.
