Our Commitment to Food Safety

For more than 70 years, Foster Farms as provided consumers of the West with fresh, natural chicken. Food safety has always been our highest priority.

Foster Farms employs a Strategic Sampling program above and beyond USDA regulations to monitor the incidence of salmonella and campylobacter; microbial bacteria that naturally exist in raw poultry products. Over the course of 2009 the company has tested, at its plants, more than 6000 samples of chicken at an intermediate point in the production process, and found the incidence of salmonella to be 3.3 percent. The comprehensive testing procedures used by Foster Farms are based on repeatable, verifiable scientific methodologies that have been validated by the USDA's Food Safety Assessment program. The most recent, independent testing by the USDA in 2009 found incidence levels of 3.4 percent, further validating the Foster Farms testing. The USDA considers levels below 5% to demonstrate excellent microbiological control.

Foster Farms has been at the forefront of adding procedures at the ranch and plant level to reduce the incidence of salmonella and campylobacter. Its food safety strategy includes vaccination of breeder flocks, hatchery sanitation programs, and a “multiple-hurdle” approach at the processing plant to better ensure bacteria control. The company continues to aggressively seek out and test new methods of microbial control and eradication.

Experts are in complete agreement that chicken properly handled and cooked to a temperature of 165 degrees is completely safe, and the presence of any bacteria, fully eradicated. Preparation guidelines and safe handling instructions are available on every Foster Farms package and are also available at the company's website at http://fosterfarms.com/cooking/safety.asp.