From the U.S. Government Accountability Office, www.gao.gov Transcript for: Food Safety and Reducing Pathogens in Poultry Description: Audio interview by GAO staff with Alfredo Gomez, Director, Natural Resources and Environment Related GAO Work: GAO-14-744: Food Safety: USDA Needs to Strengthen Its Approach to Protecting Human Health from Pathogens in Poultry Products Released: October 2014 [ Background Music ] [ Narrator: ] Welcome to GAO's Watchdog Report, your source for news and information from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. It's October 2014. The U.S. food supply is one of the safest in the world, yet the Centers for Disease Control estimate that pathogens like salmonella in contaminated food, especially poultry, cause more than 2 million human illnesses per year. A team led by Alfredo Gomez, a director in GAO's Natural Resources and Environment team, recently reviewed the U.S. Department of Agriculture's approach to reducing pathogens in poultry products. GAO's Jacques Arsenault sat down with Alfredo to talk about what they found. [ Jacques Arsenault: ] Why is contamination of poultry products a food safety issue and a public health concern? [ Alfredo Gomez: ] Americans consume more poultry products--that is, turkey and chicken--than beef and pork, and poultry is an important source of human salmonella and campylobacter infections. Typical symptoms of illness are abdominal cramps, fevers, and diarrhea, but in rare cases, food-borne illness from salmonella and campylobacter can lead to long-term complications. Now, while most infections are not fatal, certain populations that are more vulnerable are infants, the elderly, and people with weakened immune systems. [ Jacques Arsenault: ] Now, what steps has USDA taken to reduce poultry product contamination? [ Alfredo Gomez: ] USDA is tightening existing standards by limiting the allowable amount of salmonella contamination in whole raw poultry. So specifically, for decades, USDA allowed up to 20 percent of a plant's young chicken carcasses to test positive for salmonella but recently revised the standards to 7.5 percent. USDA is also implementing the first standards limiting campylobacter contamination in poultry. For example, the standard for young chicken carcasses allows 10.4 percent of a plant sample to test positive. Also, in 2012, USDA began developing salmonella standards for chicken parts and revising salmonella standards for ground poultry. Now, this is important because the majority of poultry that Americans consume and that industry markets is ready-to-eat and further processed products such as ground poultry and parts. [ Jacques Arsenault: ] Let me ask, then, what recommendations is GAO making to USDA in this report to improve food safety? [ Alfredo Gomez: ] We're making several recommendations to USDA, and one of these recommendations is that the USDA develop ways to measure and monitor industry compliance with all salmonella and campylobacter standards for poultry products. We're also recommending that USDA provide better industry guidance to control pathogens in live poultry on the farm--that is, before they arrive at the slaughter facility. [ Jacques Arsenault: ] Finally, for consumers, what do you see as the bottom line of this report? [ Alfredo Gomez: ] The bottom line for this report is USDA recommends that consumers should handle raw poultry products properly in order to minimize cross-contamination, as well as to cook poultry thoroughly to eliminate these pathogens and to prevent food-borne illness. Now, this is important because for ground poultry, USDA's current standards allow up to 44 percent of ground chicken samples in a slaughter plant to test positive for salmonella, and also 49.9 percent of ground turkey samples to test positive for salmonella. So salmonella-contaminated ground poultry and parts put consumers at greater risk of becoming ill than whole poultry, and that is because these products are generally more likely to be contaminated. [ Background Music ] [ Narrator: ] To learn more, visit GAO.gov and be sure to tune in to the next episode of GAO's Watchdog Report for more from the congressional watchdog, the U.S. Government Accountability Office.