(NAFB) – The Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service Tuesday announced a stronger and more comprehensive effort to reduce Salmonella illnesses associated with poultry products.

The agency is initiating several activities to gather data and information necessary to support future action and move closer to the national target of a 25 percent reduction in Salmonella illnesses. Despite consistent reductions in the occurrence of Salmonella in poultry products, more than one million consumer illnesses due to Salmonella occur annually, and 23 percent of those illnesses are due to consumption of chicken and turkey.

USDA intends to seek stakeholder feedback on specific Salmonella control and measurement strategies, including pilot projects, in poultry slaughter and processing establishments. A key component of the approach is encouraging preharvest controls to reduce Salmonella contamination coming into the slaughterhouse.

The data generated from pilots will be used to determine if a different approach could reduce Salmonella illness in consumers.