The United States Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service—the federal agency tasked with protecting the public from foodborne illness—is failing in its mandate by allowing high rates of Salmonella contamination to enter the national food supply.
According to the CDC, one in every 25 packages of chicken at a typical local grocery store is contaminated with Salmonella, a bacterial pathogen that leads to over a million infections per year in the United States. One in 25, however, might be a gross underestimate. A 2022 Consumer Reports study tested 351 samples of ground meat and found that “almost a third of the ground chicken packages we tested contained salmonella.”
While some Salmonella contaminations may result from random accidents or isolated incidents, the prevalence of dangerous bacteria in the food system is the predictable result of the current model of mass-confinement animal farming, and a regulatory framework that treats widespread bacterial contamination as an inevitable and acceptable cost of doing business.
How can it be that so many raw chicken and turkey products are contaminated with foodborne pathogens that put public health at high risk? Consumers might reasonably assume that the federal government has measures to prevent Salmonella from entering the food supply. The unfortunate truth, however, is that despite federal regulators’ awareness of this problem, they lack the authority to address it.
It doesn’t have to be this way. In August 2024, after decades of largely ineffective policies related to Salmonella contamination, USDA finally proposed addressing this problem by classifying Salmonella as an adulterant, which would give regulators the authority to remove contaminated chicken and turkey from shelves and even prevent their entry into the consumer market in the first place. This common-sense approach would treat dangerous bacteria as the public health threat they are. But by April 2025, the agency had reversed course. After poultry industry groups complained about the potential costs, and the head of the poultry industry lobby group that opposed the rules made a $5 million donation to the President’s inauguration committee in 2024, USDA quietly withdrew the proposal in early 2025.
As a result, millions of pounds of contaminated chicken and turkey continue to reach consumers’ kitchens while federal regulators lack the authority to intervene.
In fact, today, the agency allows up to 25 percent of ground chicken samples to test positive for Salmonella (as well as high percentages for other poultry products). But even when plants fail to meet even these lax standards, regulators can’t issue fines, suspend operations, or require recalls. This means that there can be, and often is, widespread contamination in products destined for grocery store shelves.
This system won’t fix itself. Decisive action must be taken by the USDA to better protect consumers by immediately:
Extending Zero-Tolerance Standards to All Poultry. The USDA already has zero-tolerance policies for Salmonella in ground beef and egg products. Consumers deserve the same protection for raw chicken and turkey. If the agency can keep Salmonella out of your scrambled eggs, it can keep it out of your chicken breast as well.
Bringing Back the Salmonella Adulterant Rule. First, the federal government should reinstate the August 2024 proposed framework that would classify Salmonella as an adulterant. This change would give USDA the regulatory power to remove contaminated products from shelves and shut down plants, rather than merely recommending that companies do so. The USDA already treats E. coli in this manner in ground beef; there’s no logical reason Salmonella should get special protection.
These aren’t unreasonable proposals; rather, they’re the bare minimum for protecting public health. The regulatory framework already exists for other foods, so why not extend it to chicken and turkey products?
Read our report for more information.