This notice provides information to inspection programme personnel (IPP) at the establishments that are included as part of this baseline data collection program.

Information in this notice applies to the 90-day training (i.e., “shake down”) period that will be conducted before the actual baseline study begins. The 90-day training period began with the issuance of this notice. The sample collection procedures for this study are different than those for the routine sampling of other poultry products.

This Programme will collect rinses of raw chicken parts at all establishments that:

• Slaughter broilers and cut the carcasses into chicken parts of the type typically available for purchase by consumers;
• Receive whole chicken carcasses from other federally inspected establishments and cut carcasses into halves, or quarters, or individual parts of the type typically available for purchase by consumers; or
• Receive raw chicken parts from other federally inspected establishments and cut them further into halves, or quarters, or individual parts of the type typically available for purchase by consumers.

This baseline study will provide FSIS and the regulated industry with data concerning the prevalence and quantitative levels of selected foodborne pathogens and microorganisms that serve as indicators of process control (e.g., Campylobacter, generic Escherichia coli, Salmonella, Enterobacteriaceae, coliforms, and plate counts of aerobic microorganisms).

For the purposes of this survey, FSIS is defining “raw cut-up chicken parts” as raw, (uncooked) cut-up chicken parts, whether skin-on or skinless or bone-in or boneless, such as, but not limited to: breasts, thighs, wings, legs, necks, backs, half- or quarter-carcasses, and internal organs such as giblets (e.g. liver, heart, or gizzard) typically available for purchase by consumers.