- The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has extended the comment period for its proposed rule prohibiting the sale of chicken and turkey contaminated with certain types of Salmonella. Comments will now be accepted until Jan. 17, 2025, adding 72 days to the comment period.
- As previously discussed on this blog, the National Chicken Council had requested a 90-day extension beyond the initial 60-day comment period and 30-day extension. Two representatives, as well as the Poultry Safety Coalition and several consumer advocacy groups had asked for an additional 180 days to comment, citing concerns that “the proposed rule is not sufficiently comprehensive and may by itself foreclose important reforms” that USDA should consider including in the final rule.
- According to FSIS, stakeholders requested additional time to comment following the initial extension “to allow sufficient time to consider the proposal and supporting documentation to formulate comments on these documents.”
- As a reminder, the proposed rule (published on August 7, 2024) is intended to establish standards to prevent raw poultry products that contain high levels of Salmonella from entering commerce and to require poultry establishments to develop a microbial monitoring program to prevent pathogen contamination through the slaughter system.
- Keller and Heckman will continue to monitor and report on this proposed rule.
