Meat packers described the proposal as costly and burdensome
of ConsumerAffairsApril 25, 2025
Key takeaways
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USDA withdraws Salmonella rule: The U.S. Department of Agriculture has withdrawn a proposed rule that would have limited Salmonella levels in raw poultry, citing potential financial and operational burdens on businesses and consumers.
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Industry vs. consumer advocacy divide: While meat industry groups opposed the rule as overly burdensome, consumer advocacy organizations like the Center for Science in the Public Interest supported it as a major step forward in food safety, drawing parallels to the successful 1994 E. coli regulation.
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Rising Salmonella concerns: Salmonella remains a significant public health issue, with food recalls due to contamination increasing from 27 in 2023 to 41 in 2024, despite current USDA practices that still allow contaminated products to carry the agency’s seal of inspection.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is withdrawing a proposed rule, developed during the Biden administration, that would limit the amount of Salmonella in raw poultry products. In a statement, USDA said the rule would have imposed significant financial and operational burdens on American businesses and consumers.”
Salmonella germs are killed by heat during the cooking process but the time and temperature can differ for different foods. Temperature Guidelines for Killing Salmonella
As a general rule, Salmonella is effectively destroyed at internal temperatures of 165F.
Poultry must be cooked to an internal temperature of 165F while ground meats, like beef and pork, require only 160F. Whole cuts of meat are typically safe at 145F.
According to the Pubic Interest Research Group, in 2024, there were 41 food recalls in the United States due to potential Salmonella contamination, marking an increase from 27 such recalls in 2023.
Consumer advocates pushed for the rule
When the Biden administration proposed new limits on the amount of Salmonella allowed in raw food products, the Center for Science in the Public Interest strongly endorsed it.
The proposal is one of the greatest advances in food safety in a generation, CSPI Director of Regulatory Affairs Sarah Sorscher said in a statement at the time. USDA and industry have been testing for Salmonella for years, but when a product tests positive, it still gets stamped USDA inspected and shipped out to consumers. Its time for USDA to stop putting its seal of approval on food contaminated with high amounts of disease-causing Salmonella.
The proposed rule was modeled on USDAs standard for pathogenic E. coli, which bans the most dangerous types of E. coli in ground beef. In the decade following the 1994 E. coli ban, CSPI said the incidence of foodborne illness from E. coli dropped by more than 40%.
The Meat Institute, a trade group representing meat and poultry processors, lobbied the White House, asking the administration to withdraw the proposal and replace it with one that would be less costly and burdensome.
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