The U.S. Department of Agriculture has set new safeguards that will better protect consumers from foodborne illness in meat and poultry products. It will now be easier to trace contaminated food materials in the supply chain, to act against contaminated products sooner, and to establish the effectiveness of food safety systems.

Policy measures include the following:

• New traceback measures to control pathogens earlier and prevent them from triggering foodborne illnesses and outbreaks.
• Requiring establishments to prepare and maintain recall procedures, to notify the Food and Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) within 24 hours that a meat or poultry product that could harm consumers has been shipped into commerce, and to document each reassessment of their hazard control and critical control point (HACCP) system food safety plans.