{"id":5586,"date":"2026-02-04T23:53:30","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T04:53:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/?p=5586"},"modified":"2026-02-19T11:10:44","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T16:10:44","slug":"salmonella-in-the-cafeteria-how-federal-food-assistance-is-putting-vulnerable-americans-at-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/news\/salmonella-in-the-cafeteria-how-federal-food-assistance-is-putting-vulnerable-americans-at-risk\/","title":{"rendered":"Salmonella in the Cafeteria? How Federal Food Assistance is Putting Vulnerable Americans at Risk"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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When children sit down for lunch at school, seniors open their monthly food boxes, or families visit a food bank, they all have the same basic expectation: the food should be safe. For millions of Americans who rely on federal nutrition assistance, these programs are a lifeline. Yet Farm Forward\u2019s recent investigation<\/a> reveals that poultry contaminated with salmonella is being distributed to the nation\u2019s most vulnerable populations, including children, seniors, families with low income, and Indigenous communities.<\/p>\n

USDA Knows It\u2019s Purchasing Contaminated Food for Federal Nutrition Assistance Programs and Does It Anyway<\/span><\/h2>\n

USDA\u2019s Agricultural Marketing Service Commodity Procurement Program purchases raw poultry and other foods for federal nutrition assistance programs like the National School Lunch Program, the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (serving seniors with low income), the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations, and the Emergency Food Assistance Program (supplying food banks and soup kitchens).<\/p>\n

USDA is also responsible for tracking and reporting on salmonella contamination in the poultry industry, and yet it doesn\u2019t use its own data to ensure it\u2019s purchasing from plants with lower rates of contamination. USDA sets \u201cperformance standards<\/a>\u201d for salmonella contamination in raw poultry, categorizing plants based on what percentage of poultry tests positive for salmonella. Even a passing grade allows for shockingly high rates of contamination. But many of the nation\u2019s largest poultry producers<\/a> repeatedly fail even these low standards without facing meaningful consequences. And worse, despite being charged with providing a safe and nutritious supply of food assistance, USDA knowingly purchases poultry from these highly contaminated plants for school lunches, food banks, and senior nutrition programs.<\/p>\n

The level of inconsistency in USDA\u2019s food safety policy for purchasing for nutrition assistance programs is stark. The agency enforces a zero-tolerance standard<\/a> for salmonella in certain products it buys, including ground beef, diced cooked chicken, and eggs. But for raw poultry, no such requirement exists. As a result, contaminated poultry flows freely into communities being served by this assistance.<\/p>\n

Lack of Oversight and Tracking Leaves Federal Food Recipients Exposed to Salmonella Risk<\/span><\/h2>\n

Farm Forward\u2019s investigation<\/a> found that USDA purchased poultry from numerous companies with plants that consistently failed the salmonella performance standards, including major brands like Butterball, Tyson, Foster Farms, and Cargill. We also identified multiple examples of companies selling raw poultry products to USDA from a plant with a failing rating for the same type of product at the time of the purchase. Two of Foster Farms\u2019 plants, for instance, sold hundreds of cases of chicken parts to USDA during a time when chicken parts at those plants failed the salmonella standard.<\/p>\n

We know that purchases of contaminated poultry are being made by USDA for its federal nutrition assistance programs, and we know that USDA has signed future contracts with companies selling highly contaminated products. But the full scope of the problem remains unknown, and that\u2019s what\u2019s scary. Although USDA knows which plants are highly contaminated (and continues to purchase from them), no agency effectively tracks just how much contaminated poultry reaches food assistance recipients. This lack of oversight is especially concerning given that people experiencing food insecurity often face barriers to healthcare, making foodborne illnesses less likely to be diagnosed or reported.<\/p>\n

USDA has acknowledged <\/a>for years that its approach to controlling salmonella has failed to significantly reduce illness. In 2024, the agency proposed a long-overdue reform<\/a> that would have classified salmonella at certain levels as an adulterant, giving the government authority to stop the sale of contaminated poultry. That proposal was withdrawn<\/a> in 2025 with little explanation, leaving the same regulatory gaps in place.<\/p>\n

The result is a system in which the most vulnerable among us bear the cost of contamination through illness, hospitalization, lost work and school days, and preventable deaths, while producers face little pressure to change. This is not only a food safety issue. It is an equity issue. Children, seniors, and families who rely on federal food assistance deserve food that supports their health, not food that puts it at risk.<\/p>\n

Ending Salmonella in Federal Food Programs Requires Stronger Standards and Systemic Reform<\/span><\/h2>\n

Protecting public health requires stronger salmonella standards, zero tolerance for contamination in all federally purchased poultry, and meaningful reform of agricultural practices that allow these pathogens to persist. Until those changes are made, taxpayer-funded contamination will remain a hidden danger in America\u2019s food assistance system, and the people most unprepared to shoulder the harm will continue to pay the price.<\/p>\n

Want the Full Story?<\/span><\/h2>\n

For more detail on the USDA\u2019s purchasing of contaminated poultry for federal nutrition assistance programs, read Farm Forward\u2019s issue brief. To learn more about salmonella contamination, regulatory failures, and animal welfare issues across the poultry industry\u2014and where federal purchasing fits into the bigger picture\u2014read our full investigative report<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":5593,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food-policy","category-public-health-pandemics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5586\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}