USDA Hits Pause on Chicken Salmonella Tests Over False Alarms
Published Date: 12/2/2025
Notice
Summary
The USDA is delaying its Salmonella testing for not ready-to-eat breaded stuffed chicken because current tests sometimes give false alarms. This delay affects producers of these chicken products and pushes back the start date beyond November 3, 2025. No extra costs or penalties are mentioned, but the agency wants to make sure testing is accurate before moving forward.
Analyzed Economic Effects
3 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 1 costs, 0 mixed.
Sampling Start Delayed Past November 3, 2025
FSIS will not begin sampling and testing not ready-to-eat (NRTE) breaded stuffed chicken products on November 3, 2025, and the agency has not set a new start date. FSIS says it will provide advance notice in the Federal Register before it begins verification sampling and testing.
Current Tests Can Produce False Positives
FSIS found current test methods can report Salmonella at or above 1 colony forming unit per gram (1 CFU/g) when true contamination is lower: under the tested method, a 0.9 CFU/g sample has a 75% chance to report >= 1 CFU/g, and a 0.5 CFU/g sample has a 40% chance. FSIS says proceeding with these methods could lead to enforcement actions against products that actually contain less than 1 CFU/g and are not adulterated under the May 1, 2024 final determination.
Industry Gets More Time to Reduce Salmonella
FSIS says the delay gives industry more time to implement controls to reduce Salmonella in source components used to produce NRTE breaded stuffed chicken. The agency also intends to refine or validate methods before starting enforcement-related testing.
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