Given the complexity and volume of USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Services’s (FSIS, the Agency) Salmonella Framework for Raw Poultry Products, including two lengthy risk assessments, NCC recently joined the National Turkey Federation and the Meat Institute in requesting the Agency further extend the comment period on the proposed rule until May 6, 2025. The groups said the current comment period remains unworkable and that the need for additional time has become increasingly evident given the issues raised in two public meetings hosted on December 3, 2024, and December 5, 2024, as well as the pending change in presidential administration.
“As mentioned in our previous extension request, the proposal raises numerous questions about complex topics, including risk assessment and public health modeling, detailed applications of highly technical Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) systems, current and future laboratory testing technologies, and legal and technical considerations, to name but a few,” the groups wrote.
“And the more opportunity that our collective members, and public health experts have had been able to work through the thousands of pages of supporting materials, the more evident it has become that the proposal is incredibly complex, and the more questions have emerged. Our member companies – and all facilities that process poultry – will be significantly impacted by the Agency’s proposal, and, to date, the Agency has provided little to no clarification on pertinent and critical questions that will have significant consequences to continuity of business and even the survivability of some broiler chicken companies.”
The groups stressed that the incoming administration and new USDA leadership should be provided with the opportunity to review the proposed Salmonella Framework and argued that requiring comments be submitted days before the transition risks considerable wasted or duplicated effort.
“Finally, Congress has requested that the Agency extend the comment period for an additional 180 days. The voluminous amount of information required to be read, digested, and responded to requires time and given that the Agency continues to encourage feedback on the proposed Salmonella Framework, additional time is needed to meet the Agency’s request.”
The full extension request letter can be found here.
