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The increasing commercial practice of processing specialty meat and poultry products in retail settings has prompted regulatory concerns for the safety of these potentially problematic products. Current regulations, inspector preparation and industry directives do not adequately explain and guide commercial practice and regulatory surveillance. Specialty products such as smoked meats, meat jerky, smoked sausage and fermented sausages have been implicated in foodborne outbreaks which are likely to continue without more guidance. In recent years, more retail establishments, including food service establishments, have expanded food processing operations as a means of expanding their business and market. The addition of these food processing operations has added an enormous burden to the food protection programs of state and local agencies. For example, emerging pathogens such as E. coli 0157:H7 have resulted in the need for added scrutiny in these establishments. In response, the Association of Food and Drug Officials surveyed the need for further guidance and initiated a training program in the form of the condensed publication, “Retail Meat and Poultry Processing Guidelines.” The material in this training manual is part of a standard curriculum that can be used with both commercial and regulatory audiences to address the processing of specialty meat and poultry products as well as those historically processed in retail settings, such as ground beef.

Initially, the Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO), working with the processing authorities within the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food Safety and Inspection Services (FSIS), developed “Retail Meat and Poultry Processing Guidelines” and published a draft in October 1998. The Guidelines provide the sound scientific support for the production of such products as dry and semi-dry fermented sausage, meat jerky and cured and smoked meat and poultry products; identifies the critical control points and provides required values to be monitored for safety. The Guidelines have been endorsed by the USDA/FSIS which is forwarding them to the Conference of Food Protection with the recommendation that they be included in the Food Code.