Dangerous Germs

FACT is at the forefront of national efforts to ensure the health and safety of our food.
We advocate for strong corporate and government policies to control foodborne pathogens.

Salmonella, a type of bacteria, causes over a million illnesses and tens of thousands of hospitalizations each year. People often get Salmonella infections from meat or eggs. Despite a federal agency goal to reduce the number of people getting sick from Salmonella by 23% between 2010 and 2020, the number of sick people has gone up.

A big part of the problem is that USDA, the agency in charge of keeping Salmonella from contaminating meat, does not focus on farms where Salmonella enters the food chain. Instead, USDA focuses on slaughterhouses where companies try to get rid of Salmonella with numerous chemical treatments. However, it’s not working. In September 2020, FACT called on USDA to shift focus to the farm when addressing Salmonella. In December 2022, FACT called on USDA to require on-farm sampling of Salmonella on large-scale farms to reduce its spread.

Like people, animals can catch Salmonella through their food. It can then spread between animals, leading to the subsequent contamination of meat and eggs. Until 2016, FDA considered any Salmonella in animal feed a problem, but then under pressure from the animal feed industry decided that only certain strains are a concern.

In July 2018, FACT formally requested that FDA expand the number of Salmonella strains to be restricted in animal feed.

Protecting People from Bird Flu

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) also known as bird flu has been sweeping through poultry farms and wild bird populations in the United States and throughout the world at a startling pace. Recently the virus has spread to a number of mammal species, including dairy cattle where it is spreading between cows within herds and spreading to new herds as cows are moved around. As of April 2024, 16 people have been infected with bird flu, 6 following exposure to infected dairy cows and 9 following exposure to infected poultry. 

FACT is urging federal agencies such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to take the necessary steps to protect animals, farm workers and the public from this dangerous disease.