ELIMINATION OF REQUIREMENTS FOR

TREATMENT OF TRICHINA (TRICHINELLA SPIRALIS)

Amelia K. Sharar, Ph.D.United States Department of Agriculture

Food Safety and Inspection Service

Office of Policy, Program Development, and Evaluation

Technical Analysis Staff

ELIMINATION OF REQUIREMENTS FOR

TREATMENT OF TRICHINA (TRICHINELLA SPIRALIS)

Amelia K. Sharar, Ph.D.United States Department of Agriculture

Food Safety and Inspection Service

Office of Policy, Program Development,and Evaluation

Technical Analysis Staff

Proposed Rule

• Remove the provisions for the prescribed treatment of pork and products containing pork to destroy Trichinella spiralis or trichina under 9 CFR 318.10 for both RTE and not-RTE products

RTE Products

• Cooked products

– If process used achieves the proposed lethality performance standards for Salmonella, the process should eliminate trichina.

RTE Products• Salt-cured, dried and fermented products

– If lethality requirements for Salmonella and also E. coli O157:H7 for fermented products are achieved, it is likely that trichina will be destroyed.

– No published studies comparing lethalities of Salmonella and E. coli O157:H7 to destruction of trichina in these products.

– If establishment identifies trichina as a hazard likely to occur, the establishment has to ensure that the process, used effectively, eliminates trichina.

Not-RTE Products• Products that are raw may appear to have

been cooked because they contain ingredients such as wine, paprika and other spices and curing agents that masked their raw appearance

• These products maybe eaten rare or undercooked because of their appearance.– Products are raw and bear safe handling

instructions on their label.

Not-RTE Products

• Trichina treatment provisions on these raw pork products are overly prescriptive and are contrary to HACCP.

• Proposed rule would provide establishments the flexibility to determine whether they need to treat products to eliminate trichina.

Not-RTE Products– HACCP plan must address trichina if the

establishment identifies it as a hazard likely

to occur.

– HACCP plans for these products may provide for conspicuous labeling and instructions for fully cooking product for safety.

Incidence of Trichinosis

• First implementation of trichina regulations

• Reported decrease incidence of trichinosis

• Meat and Poultry Hotline and Industry Consumer surveys

National Trichina Certification Program

• Cooperative agreement among USDA agencies (APHIS, ARS, CSREES, FSIS), National Pork Producers Council and two pork producers

Trichina and HACCP

• lethality that achieves a 6.5 log reduction of Salmonella

• trichina treatment• trichina certified herd• safe handling instructions• cooking instructions• conspicuous labeling