Patterns and Trends in Salmonella Positive, High-level Salmonella, Serotypes, and Establishment Categorization in...

The United States Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) collects Salmonella data from poultry products and assigns establishment categories based on Salmonella prevalence over 52-week moving windows, with Category 1 representing lower, Category 2 intermediate, and Category 3 higher prevalence. In this study, we analyzed FSIS Raw Poultry Laboratory Sampling Data for chicken parts from January 1, 2023 to September 30, 2025 to provide further insight on Salmonella prevalence, high-level contamination (≥ 10 CFU/mL rinsate), and establishment categorization across establishment sizes, product types, months, years, and serotypes. Salmonella prevalence varied significantly by establishment size, product type, and their interaction. Small and very small establishments had significantly higher odds of Salmonella positive than large establishments for leg and wing products (adjusted odds ratios [aORs] = 1.7-2.1), while differences by establishment size were smaller for breast products. In contrast, high-level Salmonella occurrence differed significantly by product type, sampling month, and sampling year. Positive samples without serotype data had lower odds of high-level Salmonella than positive samples with a higher risk serotype (aORs = 0.37-0.40). At the establishment level, sample numbers per moving window and category distributions varied by establishment size. Large establishments generally had more samples per moving window than small and very small establishments, but a lower proportion of moving windows classified as Category 1 or 3. We observed a significant increasing monotonic trend in Category 1 (Kendall's τ = 0.77, p-value < 0.001) and decreasing trends in Categories 2 and 3. These insights could help inform government regulatory and industry management processes for better Salmonella control in poultry products.