After 40 years in Virginia, we recently pulled up roots and moved to Georgia. Greeting us upon arrival was the Joro spider, spinning golden webs around the outside of our home. The Joro is originally from Asia, and grows to 4 inches. They were first spotted in the U.S. in 2014, right here in northeast Georgia. Try as I might, I can’t keep the house free of webs because the spiders fill the surrounding woods.

Two days ago USDA announced it will try a more comprehensive effort to reduce Salmonella illnesses associated with poultry products. USDA Deputy Under Secretary Sandra Eskin makes a vitally important point when she states, “Time has shown that our current policies are not moving us closer to our public health goal.” Excellent! Admission that there is a problem is the first step to solving it. Kudos to the administration for that.

Prompts for USDA to move forward on this issue have been both recent and recurring. A recent letter signed by 21 luminaries was sent to USDA Secretary Vilsack urging action on this front. Meatingplace also deserves credit for publishing recurring editorials and opinions for years encouraging FSIS to make needed changes. FSIS officials read this site.

Here are four important ideas in the press release, and comments on each.

“It’s time to rethink our approach.” We are in hearty agreement. Although the old Salmonella performance standards were not specifically mentioned, they are at the root of the problem. Developed near the end of the last century, meeting these standards became the goal. But, that has not reduced Salmonella illnesses. The standards were created before we knew what we know now, and some experts who helped develop them have been advising FSIS to rethink its approach for more than a decade.
“Since it is not just the presence or absence of Salmonella, but the quantity of bacteria that can impact the likelihood of illness, FSIS will examine how quantification can be incorporated into this approach.” This is likely to be of no more value than the current positive-negative paradigm used for the performance standards. Counting Salmonella that don’t make people sick doesn’t help anyone.
“[W]ith emerging science suggesting that not all Salmonella are equally likely to cause human illness, FSIS will focus on the Salmonella serotypes and the virulence factors that pose the greatest public health risk.” Yes, by all means do this. By the way, this science emerged quite a while ago.
“A key component of this approach is encouraging preharvest controls to reduce Salmonella contamination coming into the slaughterhouse.” This is outstanding. No progress can be made without preharvest prevention targeted for specific harmful Salmonella.

Consistent with point No. 4, experience shows we don’t have the technology to solve the problem in-plant alone. Testing on-farm for the Salmonella that cause foodborne illness, and taking appropriate, practical measures for affected flocks will make a difference. We have to stop harmful Salmonella from coming in from the farm.

It’s just like my struggle to rid my home of Joros and their webs. The effort is futile as long as they’re still coming in from the woods.

We have a plan!

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