Congressional Chicken Caucus co-chairs Reps. Steve Womack (R-AR) and Jim Costa (D-CA) this week sent a letter to USDA requesting a 180-day extension to the recently proposed rule entitled, “Salmonella Framework for Raw Poultry Products.”
“As Co-Chairs of the Congressional Chicken Caucus,” the letter said, “we respectfully request that the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) grant a 180-day extension of the comment period for its proposed rule and proposed determination – Salmonella Framework for Raw Poultry Products.”
“Given the complexity and length of the proposed rule and the fact that nearly all chicken marketed in the United States will be impacted,” the letter continued, “we believe it is essential to provide affected integrators and producers with additional time to offer thorough and meaningful feedback. Furthermore, the rule raises numerous questions due to its lack of clarity, making an extended comment period even more critical.”
Upon its publication, NCC said the proposal is unnecessary, will raise costs for producers and consumers, and will lead to an extraordinary amount of food waste with no impact on public health.
“NCC and the chicken industry attempted to engage with FSIS for the past two years during the formulation of this proposed Salmonella Framework, and unfortunately, our input was largely disregarded,” said Gary Kushner, NCC Interim President. “NCC and our member companies have invested hundreds of millions of dollars and have worked for decades to develop and refine best practices to reduce Salmonella and protect public health.
“This proposal will raise the price of chicken and cause millions of pounds of safe-to-eat, if properly prepared, chicken to be sent to landfills rather than dinner tables – an unconscionable thought given there are 44 million Americans who are food insecure,” Kushner said. “The only way to ensure our food is safe 100 percent of the time is by following science-based procedures when raising and processing chicken, and by handling and cooking it properly.”
NCC requested a 120-day comment period extension in an August letter and USDA granted just a 30-day extension to November 7, 2024.
However, highlighting the inadequacy of the provided extension, Reps. Womack and Costa sent their letter as a follow-up requesting additional time.
The letter can be found here.
