LOS ANGELES TIMES – A new report based on government inspection documents shows salmonella is widespread in U.S. grocery store chicken and turkey products. But because of how the pathogen is classified, the federal government has no authority to do much about it.
Farm Forward, an organization that advocates for farmworker rights and humane farm practices, released a report this week that examined five years of monthly U.S. Department of Agriculture inspections at major U.S. poultry plants.
It found that at many plants, including those that process and sell poultry under brand names such as Foster Farms, Costco and Perdue, levels of salmonella routinely exceeded maximum standards set by the federal government.
“The USDA is knowingly allowing millions of packages of chicken contaminated with salmonella to be sold in stores from major brands,” said Andrew deCoriolis, the organization’s executive director.
Chicken and turkey account for nearly a quarter of all salmonella infections, according to a 2021 government report on food illness.
The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service inspects poultry plants monthly. The new report shows that five U.S. poultry plants exceeded maximum allowable salmonella contamination every month from 2020 to 2024.
These included a Carthage, Mo., turkey plant owned by Butterball, a Dayton, Va., turkey plant owned by Cargill Meat Solutions, and a chicken plant located in Cunning, Ga., that is owned by Koch Foods. A Costco chicken producer, Lincoln Premium Poultry, exceeded the standard in 54 of 59 inspections.
“Lincoln Premium Poultry treats the safety of its products as an utmost concern,” Jessica Kolterman, the company’s director of administration, said in an email.
“When the United State Department of Agriculture reports are updated and published, they will show that we have enhanced our standing. … We will continue to improve our processes.”
A spokesperson for Butterball said the company “takes food safety very seriously and follows all USDA and FSIS regulations and inspection protocols” …
National Chicken Council Lies in Response to Farm Forward’s Investigation
Andrew deCoriolis, Executive Director, Farm Forward, Oct 29, 2025
In an article published on AgriPulse on October 28, 2025, spokesperson for the National Chicken Council, Tom Super, responded to Farm Forward’s latest research report on salmonella contamination in the poultry industry, saying that producers “have worked to drive Salmonella levels to all-time lows, meeting or exceeding performance standards set by USDA, who has the authority to pull inspection at any establishment that is not producing safe, wholesome and properly labeled products.”
Although the prevalence of salmonella in poultry products has decreased, the number of salmonella outbreaks and outbreak-related illnesses attributed to chicken has not, in fact, declined.
Poultry still sickens at least 320,000 people per year, although even this statistic is likely grossly underestimated; the CDC estimates that 29 of every 30 cases of salmonella go unreported.
Even one person getting seriously ill or dying from salmonella is too many, let alone thousands. Americans should not have to accept food that is chronically contaminated so that the poultry industry can continue to profit from its irresponsible production practices.
The reality is that many slaughter and processing plants from major poultry brands are failing USDA’s performance standards repeatedly and are still allowed to sell contaminated products to consumers.
Further, Super’s reference to producers working to meet or exceed performance standards belies the extremely high rates of contamination USDA allows in raw poultry products (up to 25 percent of certain poultry product types can be contaminated and meet the standard) … read more.
