New rule, same baseline skews sampling for foodborne pathogens

Last year, at the recommendation of the USDA Agricultural Research Service, the US poultry industry switched from buffered peptone water to “neutralized” buffered peptone to reduce the risk of false negatives when sampling whole chickens and parts for Salmonella and Campylobacter.

The problem is that a new baseline for Salmonella and Campylobacter sampling was never established for “neutralized” buffered peptone water by USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service.

The baseline remains the one used for regular buffered peptone water, explained Ashley Peterson, PhD, vice president of science and technology, National Chicken Council, in the second of a three-part conversation on food safety with Poultry Health Today.

“We’ve asked that the performance standards be redone as needed due to the change to neutralized buffered peptone water, but it’s going to take some time,” she said.

Watch the interview: