The U.S. government has issued a set of
voluntary standards aimed at reducing food-borne illnesses from chicken.
The proposal asks chicken companies to
reduce the rates of salmonella in raw chicken parts from around 24 percent now
to less than 16 per cent, and campylobacter rates in raw chicken parts from 22
percent to eight per cent.
Rates also would be reduced in ground
chicken and turkey, and sampling would be done over a longer period of time to
improve accuracy.
The Agriculture Department says the
standards could eventually reduce salmonella and campylobacter illnesses linked
to raw poultry by about a quarter, or 50,000 illnesses a year.
"We are taking specific aim at
making the poultry items that Americans most often purchase safer to eat,"
said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
U.S.D.A. also would make public which
companies are meeting the standards or going beyond them, and which companies
have more work to do, giving companies more incentive to comply.
The secretary said companies should
realize that complying is good business.
"It's in the long-term best
interest of the market to have safer food," Vilsack said.
Three companies – Tyson, Purdue and
Pilgrim’s Pride – dominate the U.S. chicken market and maintain a strong lobby
in Washington, including a Chicken Caucus in the House of Representatives and
another in the Senate.
That's child's play compared with the lobbying clout of Canada's chicken marketing boards and their buddies, the dominant processing companies.
That's why there isn't even a peep about similar standards in Canada. Of course, if we had standards, then supply management would hold the clout to enforce them - for the good of the public.
