On July 25, 1996, USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) issued a final rule to address the problem of harmful bacteria on raw meat and poultry products.  Such bacteria include Listeria, Salmonella and Escherichia coli O157:H7, which killed 4 children and sickened 732 others in an infamous 1993 outbreak linked to undercooked beef patties at Jack in the Box restaurants in four western states.

In an August 19, 2021 press release FSIS reflects on the 25 year old Pathogen Reduction (PR)/Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) final rule that upended “command-and-control” inspections of meat and poultry facilities under which FSIS had the responsibility of approving production decisions.  As part of a broad overhaul of the FSIS regulatory program, the PR/HACCP rules made inspected facilities responsible for developing and implementing site- and product appropriate process control measures to achieve FSIS-established performance standards for pathogen reduction and control.  FSIS attributes a reduction in pathogen contamination of meat and poultry, such as a 56% decrease in Salmonella contamination of broiler chicken carcasses, as cited in the press release, to changes brought about by HACCP including:

A large scale-microbial testing program by FSIS that was developed to address the need for verification of companies’ HACCP plans; and

Ongoing industry innovations to address the continuing need for food safety improvements.

In September, FSIS is expected to further mark the 25^th anniversary of the PR/HACCP final rule by taking a closer look at how the rules and regulations for HACCP were developed and the expanded role of the microbial testing laboratories.