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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 128 / Thursday, July 8, 2021 / Notices adjust its picture caption concerning optimal application of antimicrobial spray to a conveyor belt and products on the belt. The poultry industry association also noted that application of the spray does reduce pathogens even if the coverage of the spray is less than complete.
Response: FSIS has modified the language of the caption in question in the guidance to clarify the point that not all the belt is being treated. The Agency acknowledges that there will be some pathogen-reduction effects like those in the illustration but recommends that the spray adequately cover the belt and products.
Comment: The poultry industry association stated that the 2015
guidance instructed establishments to evaluate their process if they encountered high numbers of serotypes of public health concern.
According to the poultry industry association, the Agency should instead advise establishments to work at controlling all species of Salmonella or Campylobacter, regardless of serotype.
Response: The guidance encourages establishments to control all Salmonella and Campylobacter throughout their process. Establishments should consider all available information about hazards identified from their operations. This may include information about the point in the process where hazards are most often recovered, the lot or flock information, and characterization of the hazard recovered, including serotype.
FSIS provides Salmonella serotype results to establishments to facilitate their efforts in identifying the appropriate response, which could include both serotype-specific interventions at pre-harvest e.g., vaccines as well as Salmonella controls in the establishment.
Comment: The poultry industry association said in the section of the guidance on sampling and testing, it appeared that the Agency expected sampling and testing results for pathogens to be available in real time to assess bacterial load just before processing. The poultry industry association noted that this is not possible.
Response: FSIS has clarified the language in this section of the guidance to note that these testing options would need to be performed with adequate time allowed for the results to be used as effective tools. A number of rapidtesting methodologies may be fit-forpurpose for this use.
Comment: The poultry industry association stated that the Agency should provide additional information relating to its exploratory sampling
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results for raw, comminuted chicken in the guidance. The associated noted that Table 6 presents the prevalence rates of Salmonella and Campylobacter in mechanically separated chicken and ground and comminuted chicken products, organized by whether the source material had bone or skin in it.
According to the poultry industry association, it would be useful to know how many samples were available for each of the statistics generated for the percent prevalence for these products, given the limited number of samples in the 2015 guideline dataset.
Response: FSIS has updated the statistics reported in Table 6 of the guidance with additional data points to strengthen the analysis. These updated tables represent 934 comminuted turkey samples and 2,688 comminuted chicken samples, more than 10 times the data points for chicken and 40 times the data points for turkey versus the data points used for the 2015 guidance. Analyses of FSIS comminuted poultry exploratory sampling results shows that it is more likely that comminuted chicken will be positive for Salmonella when its source materials contain both bone and skin 56.0%. However, for Campylobacter, comminuted chicken products made from bone-in and skinless source materials were highest. Comminuted chicken made from deboned and skinless source materials had the lowest prevalence for both pathogens 34.8%
for Salmonella, and 1.7% for Campylobacter. Statistical analyses, including that for independence and for significance, were used to evaluate the data before compiling the relative risk tables that have been updated in this edition of the guidance.
Antimicrobial Interventions Comment: An environmental advocacy group questioned the Agencys continued support for food irradiation.
Response: The guidance includes irradiation among the safe and effective physical interventions available. While FSIS does not recommend the use of specific interventions or lethality treatments, food irradiation has been demonstrated to be both safe and effective in controlling pathogens. FSIS
and the Food and Drug Administration FDA regulations authorize its use in the treatment of ready-to-cook poultry 9
CFR 424.22c, citing 21 CFR 179.26.
Comment: The same advocacy group noted that the Agency continues to recommend the use of various chemical agents to reduce the levels of Salmonella and Campylobacter in poultry processing. It asked about the role played by the Occupational Safety
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and Health Administration OSHA in determining permissible exposure levels PELs for these substances and their impact on FSIS inspectors and on plant employees.
Response: While FSIS does not recommend the use of specific interventions, many chemical products have been demonstrated to be both safe and effective. Chemical substances used in the processing of meat, poultry, and egg products are approved by both FDA
and FSIS before they can be used in official establishments. They are listed in the on-line table referred to in FSIS
Directive 7120.1, Safe and Suitable Ingredients used in the Production of Meat, Poultry, and Egg Products, 7
which is updated regularly.
FSIS does not allow the use of chemicals in a manner that may be a health risk to inspection personnel.
Inspectors in every establishment verify that establishments use only approved chemicals as ingredients and only within approved limits, as outlined in FSIS Directive 7120.1. In addition, the Agency has a network of occupational safety and health experts in its inspection districts and distributes information on health hazards to its workforce. The information includes the OSHA PELs and other exposure limits applying to chemicals that may be used in meat, poultry, and egg products plants. See https www.fsis.usda.gov/
wps/portal/informational/aboutfsis/
audience-employees/employee-safety/
environmental-safety-health.
Comment: A poultry industry association advised FSIS to replace the requirement to wait at least 60
seconds for drip time before collecting a product sample with a drip time appropriate to prevent excessive antimicrobial carryover. According to the poultry industry association, establishments are familiar with the antimicrobial treatments applied to products in their operations and the appropriate neutralization periods for each treatment.
Response: FSIS has edited the language in the guidance to be more inclusive of the many antimicrobial interventions available and the manufacturers instructions specific to each.
Comment: A poultry industry association recommended that the guidance reflect differences between Salmonella and Campylobacter.
According to the association, the guidelines assertion in the section on actions to take in response to test 7 Available at: https www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/
wcm/connect/bab10e09-aefa-483b-8be8809a1f051d4c/7120.1.pdf?MOD=AJPERES.

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