November 3, 2000

USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service is encouraging producers of ready-to-eat meat and poultry products to use microbiological sampling in their food safety plans. Federal testing will be focused on companies that do not have such sampling as part of their plans. Ready-to-eat products such as hot dogs, luncheon meats and certain kinds of sausages, must be free of illness-causing microbial hazards.

FSIS will maintain at least its current level of sample collection and analysis nationwide each year to ensure that companies are creating ready-to-eat products without harmful microbial hazards. The sampling program is one way the agency verifies that a company's science-based preventive food safety plan, or hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) plan, and their standard sanitation operating procedures (SSOP) are effective.

To encourage plants to test their products, FSIS inspectors will not carry out routine scheduled sampling in a plant that incorporates a testing protocol into its HACCP plan or SSOP and tests its products at least monthly or conducts regular testing of non-food contact and food-contact surfaces in addition to testing product every three months.

Positive findings from these industry testing programs must be addressed by plants according to corrective and preventive action requirements found in the HACCP and SSOP regulations. FSIS inspectors will verify these re4quiremtns are being met, including choosing to sample at any time at the agency's discretion.

If a sample product taken by FSIS indicates the presence of a disease-causing microbial hazard, FSIS inspectors verify that the plant has taken the appropriate corrective and preventive measures as set out in the regulations. Also, inspectors will take follow-up samples once the corrective and preventive actions have been implemented to verify the continued effectiveness of the plant's actions.

Whether the testing is done by the company or by FSIS, if the product testing positive has been distributed, FSIS will request that the company conduct a recall. FSIS does not have the legal authority to mandate recalls.