Poultry Inspection The Basis for a Risk-Assessment Approach (1987) / Chapter Skim
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7. Conclusions and Recommendations
7. Conclusions and Recommendations
Pages 158-168
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From page 158... ...
Quantification is needed to clarify the magnitude of the various sources of human health risks and to provide a more defensible logic for decision making. Qualitative reasoning, even qualitative reasoning made more systematic by the use of a risk model, is often too vague and prone to error to serve as a satisfactory basis 158
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From page 159... ...
The recommendations set forth below are based on this evaluation. Current FSIS Programs The committee's use of the risk model in earlier chapters of this report was designed not only to illustrate how risk assessment can be used to evaluate current programs and to guide the development of future ones but also to answer the following question: Are current FSIS inspection techniques reasonably related to the level of public health risk associated with various components of the broiler chicken risk model?
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From page 160... ...
Unlike microbial risks, the relationship between chemical contamination levels in poultry at the slaughterhouse and on the dinner plate is much better understood. In this case, critical factors and uncertainties in the risk model concern the nature, likelihood, and level of chemical residues and the health effects produced by the ingestion of those residues.
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From page 161... ...
When needed, quantitative risk assessments may be required to elucidate complex health risks. Rather than focusing on one procedure, such as bird-by-bird inspection, as the primary component of an inspection process, FSIS should direct its efforts toward the establishment of a comprehensive quality assurance program.
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From page 162... ...
· In describing the risk model (Chapter 3) , the committee identified a variety of points in the slaughtering process where operations involving machinery have the potential to influence contamination levels.
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From page 163... ...
Further development of quantitative health risk assessment will be an essential tool in this change. Educational programs for people who handle raw broilers in slaughterhouses, at retail, and during food preparation in the home and in commercial establishments should be established or intensified to alert them of the potential risks and to instruct them in proper food handling practices.
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From page 164... ...
In USDA research programs, emphasis should be given to accidental chemical contaminants, environmental contaminants, and chemicals formed during processing, storage, and heating of poultry products. The current Exploratory Testing Program should be expanded to include research on the following essential topics: the toxic properties of chemical agents (to assist In setting acceptable intake levels)
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From page 165... ...
This sample inspection would of course not preclude additional inspection of the present type or other types that might be deemed appropriate by the inspector in charge; it provides a minimum for FSIS involvement, not a maximum. This first-stage inspection would have several purposes: to maintain awareness of the quality of the product at this stage, including detection of gross disease and malfunctioning equipment; to ensure that FSIS can fulfill its statutory mandate; to provide direction for further studies, especially laboratory studies of microbial and chemical hazards; to exert pressure on poultry processors to apply inspection procedures that conform to acceptable standards; and to provide data that could serve as a teas is for further modification of the sampling system, e.g., in the size of the samples, in inspection techniques, and in objectives.
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From page 166... ...
It may in time become apparent that this phase of sampling can be omitted under some conditions, for example, when a producer has a very strong quality control program of its ohm and a long history of minimal problems in the samples, but the committee does not recommend the complete omission of this step under exis tiny conditions . In the second stage of sampling, most birds selected in the first stage would be returned to the line, but a random subsample would be retained for still more detailed study, including simple laboratory studies for microbial load and chemical residues at the plant.
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From page 167... ...
Instead, FSIS should develop an appropriate sampling structure based, for example, on homogeneous and useful units like rearing groups, or random lots of birds characterized by some common feature such as their point of origin. (Recommendations for matching sampling rate to relative risks are presented above under Chemical Residues.)
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