USDA offers incentives for food processors to increase Salmonella testing

Food processors are being offered incentives if they agree to use new tests in the search for Salmonella bacteria in their products.

According to a report from FoodProductionDaily.com, the Food Safety and Inspection Service is offering regulatory waivers to food companies who expand their testing for Salmonella bacteria in raw meats and poultry.

These incentives represent an expansion of the Salmonella Initiative Program. Expanded testing will use new “procedures, equipment or processing techniques” to prevent and detect the presence of the food-borne pathogen.

Earlier this year, the Food and Drug Administration enacted a wide-ranging food safety bill which opened new streams of funding to increase the amount of safety testing it can do and granted the agency new powers in the ability to recall contaminated foods.

The FDA looked embarrassingly overwhelmed and ineffective during recent major recalls of food products which have sickened thousands of Americans and led to the recall of millions of food products.

In many cases, the food processors were in charge of their own safety inspections at their facilities and companies which didn’t bother to adhere to regulations were more likely to produce contaminated food.

FSIS believes prevention and more rigorous testing for food-borne pathogens will greatly reduce the amount of foods that need to be recalled due to contamination.