The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) oversees the safety of meat and poultry products. Each year, an estimated 2 million foodborne illnesses are associated with consumption of meat or poultry, with bacteria and viruses causing many of these infections. The agency’s current approach to food safety is based on laws enacted in 1906 and 1957 and does not adequately protect Americans from many pathogens of greatest concern today.
The resources collected here describe strengths and weaknesses in the FSIS meat and poultry safety program and identify ways to update food safety systems to make the agency better able to address today’s risks.
Contaminated meat and poultry products are responsible for an estimated 2 million bacterial illnesses in the United States each year. Reducing meat and poultry contamination presents a significant opportunity to prevent serious—and sometimes fatal—disease caused by these major foodborne pathogens.
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