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FDA Acts to Curb Salmonella in Chicken Eggs

By PritzkerLaw

Vice President Joe Biden today announced findings of the President's Food Safety Working Group, and one of the first real concrete changes of the initiative occurred simultaneously when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a new preventative rule to curb Salmonella in eggs.

The reform is expected to prevent 79,000 Salmonella illnesses and 30 Salmonella deaths a year. It would reduce the number of infections from Salmonella Enteritidis (the most common type found in chicken eggs) by 60 percent.

The rule requires the following preventative measures by all egg producers with more than 3,000 laying hens. Producers with more than 50,000 laying hens must comply within one year of the rule's entry in the Federal Register. The others have three years to comply. 

• 1. Buy chicks and young hens only from suppliers who monitor for Salmonella bacteria.
• 2. Establish rodent, pest control and biosecurity measures to prevent spread of bacteria throughout the farm by people and equipment.
• 3. Conduct testing in the poultry house for Salmonella Enteritidis. If the tests find the bacterium, a representative sample of the eggs must be tested over an eight week time period (4 tests at two week intervals); if any of the four egg tests is positive, the producer must further process the eggs to destroy the bacteria, or divert the eggs to a non-food use.
• 4. Clean and disenfect poultry houses that have tested positive for Salmonella Enteritidis.
• 5. Refrigerate eggs at 45 degrees Fahrenheit during storage and transportation no later than 36 hours after the eggs are laid.

Full post as published by Food Poisoning Law Blog on July 07, 2009 (boomark / email).