April 13, 2000

The President's Council on Food Safety has identified egg safety as one component of the public health issue of food safety that warrants immediate federal interagency action. In response, the "Egg Safety From Production to Consumption: An Action Plan to Eliminate Salmonella Enteritidis Illnesses Due to Eggs" was developed and announced in December 1999. The Action Plan identifies the systems and practices to be implemented to reduce and ultimately, eliminate eggs as a source of human Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) illnesses. An interim goal of the Egg Safety Action Plan is a 50 percent reduction in egg-associated SE illnesses by 2005.

On March 30, 2000 in Columbus, Ohio and April 6, 2000 in Sacramento, California, FDA and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) hosted public meetings to solicit and discuss information for reducing or eliminating the risk of Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) in shell eggs or egg products using a farm-to-table approach and to provide stakeholders with an update on the current status of the Egg Safety Action Plan.

Participants in the public meeting actively expressed opinions and concerns about the Action Plan and expressed that both Strategies (I and II from the Action Plan) must focus on the entire farm-to-table continuum and must not focus solely on the farm and the packer. Several common themes emerged through the discussions:

• Nationwide Consistent Standards to provide a level playing field and to improve confidence in the egg supply
• Standards must be risk-based and must achieve intended purpose.
• Flexibility for implementation to recognize the different configurations of layer houses and ranches
• Flexibility to allow for technological advances
• Education, at all levels, is essential in reducing foodborne illness
• Must cover and reach all producers
• Identify and inform those consumers who are at-risk
• Food handler and retail training and certification to ensure proper food handling practices are applied
• Consumers expect safe food and except the government to ensure food is safe
• Testing alone cannot be used to improve egg safety
• Incoming products (chicks, feed, water and other materials) must meet standards
• Better understanding of the ecology and introduction of SE into Layers
• Consistent enforcement and inspection
• Inspector Training is a prerequisite for a successful program

Written comments are still being accepted. Written comments must be submitted no later than April 20, 2000. Information on submission of comments is contained within the Federal Register notice and can be found on our web-site. (www.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/fr000321.html)

The Egg Safety National Standards Work Group (composed of representatives from FDA, USDA, and several States) will use the information from the public meeting and written comments to draft proposed national standards for the producer, shell egg packers and egg products processors. The draft standards are expected to be completed and published in the Federal Register (for review and comment) by December 2000.