The three main components of pre-harvest intervention — probiotics and prebiotics in animal feed, pathogen resistance through vaccines or antimicrobials, and biosecurity protocols — all work together to reduce foodborne pathogens in beef, poultry and pork. Each operation, however, has to tinker with the formula to create its ideal solution.

As most of you know, as a food industry lawyer, I have represented the food industry for over 20 years. During the course of that time, I have closely tracked evolving USDA policy, the strengthening of FSIS inspection and surveillance programs, the continuing parade of food product recalls, and the nearly monthly emergence of new foodborne illness outbreaks.

One of the greatest challenges facing the meat and poultry industry is how best to supply safe and nourishing produce as the global population continues to rise.

There are several factors that can make controlling Salmonella in poultry difficult. Chief among them is the long-standing perception held by some operations that processing-plant interventions can eliminate most of the risk associated with any potential threat.

Investments in food-safety apparel and training workers to properly wear and handle garments seems a natural course for meat and poultry processors.

Bacterial pathogens, such as Salmonella spp. and Campylobacter, continue to be the leading suspected causes of foodborne illnesses from poultry products today.

Another recall just came across the news feed. A few minutes before that, there was a news flash about a foodborne outbreak. It got me to thinking: What is the correlation, if any, between the foodborne outbreaks and recalls?