Why Proposed Salmonella Testing Is the Right Answer for Consumers—and the Poultry Industry.

February 27, 2025

Change is in the air (and across the departments) in Washington, DC. So it comes as no surprise that new USDA FSIS regulations for detecting and quantifying Salmonella in poultry and serotyping serovars of concern are being questioned. With representatives introducing legislation to block implementation of the new standards, it’s important to take a step back and examine why the proposal arose in the first place.

THE CASE FOR ENHANCED STANDARDS

1. Legislators and others contend the new standards are not needed from a health and safety perspective. However, with the USDA FSIS having a goal to reduce Salmonella based infections by 25%, a study in February 2024 pointed out that the number of positive results has actually increased by 22 percent. In other words, the desire to reduce the presence of Salmonella serotypes of concern is not being addressed.

2. The need for a new standard is also supported by the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF). This organization acknowledges an overall reported reduction of Salmonella in poultry products, but points out there has still been no decrease in related illnesses. Around 250,000 cases of Salmonella-related illnesses attributable to chicken and turkey products are still being reported annually.

3. Consumer advocacy groups like Consumer Reports also support a new and more intensive standard for poultry testing, stating that they believe today’s standards are too lax to ensure the overall health and safety of poultry products for consumers.

NEW STANDARDS, MEET NEW TECHNOLOGY

At PathogenDx, our mission is to harness innovation to put new standards of health and safety within reach from a cost, turnaround-time and business metrics point of view. To that end, PathogenDx now supports poultry producers with molecular testing that combines Detection and quantitation of Salmonella Spp. and Serotyping all in a single test, with results in a single shift.

With our Sero^X assay, chicken and turkey product producers can meet the new proposed USDA-FSIS standard with a highly cost-effective test that eliminates the need for enrichment of raw chicken carcass samples and delivers results in a single day—not taking up to the two weeks that would be required with current Serology, qPCR or NGS methods.

Sero^X delivers a higher overall ROI for poultry producers and the general public gains more assurance that the poultry products they enjoy are healthy to consume. We obviously have a vested interest here, but we think a health and safety win-win is within reach for everyone. We look forward to carrying on the conversation with all interested parties. Reach out and share your point of view at [email protected].