CUMMING, Ga. — A Cumming, Ga., poultry plant failed federal salmonella safety standards for five straight years, earning the USDA’s lowest rating every single month from 2020 to 2024, according to a new report from the animal-welfare group Farm Forward.
The 36-page analysis, released last month, examined five years of monthly USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service records for major U.S. poultry facilities.
It found that the Koch Foods plant at 221 Meadow Drive exceeded the federal limit for salmonella contamination every month during the review period – placing it among only five plants nationwide to receive a Category 3 rating, the worst available, for the full five years.
The company has a plant on Industrial Boulevard in Gainesville, Ga.
“The fact that Koch’s Cumming plant failed USDA salmonella safety standards 100 percent of the time for the last five years shows a blatant disregard for public health and food safety,” Andrew deCoriolis, Farm Forward’s executive director, told Forsyth County News. “Worse, tracking further back to when USDA began releasing inspection reports, the Cumming plant also failed the standard for both 2018 and 2019, showing chronic excessive contamination for as long as testing data is publicly available.”
He added that the plant’s contamination level averaged 31.5 percent – more than double the 15.4 percent allowed under federal guidelines – and said one in seven samples tested positive for antibiotic-resistant strains considered medically important for treating human illness.
“Koch does not just endanger the public with its sale of contaminated poultry products,” deCoriolis said. “It also contributes to the growing global threat of antibiotic resistance – an issue both the CDC and WHO warn is one of the greatest public health challenges of our time.”
Koch Foods Inc., which reports more than $5 billion in annual revenue, did not respond to FCN requests for comment.
The company sells a variety of chicken products in stores under brand names like Koch Foods, Cravers Chicken and Antioch Farms.
A page on the company’s website entitled “Corporate Responsibility and Practices” boasts about its elevated safety standards.
“We deliver the highest quality poultry, in large part due to our safe food practices,” a section reads. “While we adhere to all government mandated inspections and procedures, our corporate values and sense of responsibility lead us to go beyond standard compliance. Koch Foods has developed and implemented a strong internal program that helps provide security and safeguards at every touch point to keep you and our chicken safe.”
FSIS ratings
The USDA’s FSIS assigns establishments to one of three salmonella performance categories:
· Category 1: At or below half the maximum allowable contamination rate
· Category 2: Meets the standard
· Category 3: Exceeds the maximum allowable contamination rate and fails the standard
The report
Farm Forward’s report, “How the USDA and the US Poultry Industry Fail to Protect Americans from Foodborne Disease,” was published in October by Kathryn Gillespie, the organization’s vice president of research and strategy. The report outlines how researchers analyzed USDA data.
“Test results are posted monthly on the USDA website, going back to October 2015 for aggregate testing data and October 2017 for individual establishment data,” the report states. “Although these results are publicly available, the data on the site is obscure.”
The group said it reviewed FSIS’s salmonella verification testing program to determine how poultry establishments are rated and to identify brands that most consistently failed to meet standards.
Salmonella remains one of the nation’s leading causes of foodborne illness, resulting in roughly 1.3 million illnesses and 238 deaths in the U.S. each year.
Checking your products
All USDA-inspected products, including poultry, are labeled with a USDA mark of inspection and have an establishment number, which is assigned to the plant where the product was produced.
Establishment numbers have a “P” prefix followed by a number. They can be found on a package’s exterior, usually near the USDA inspection label.
The Cumming Koch Foods’ plant is establishment number P19378.
Consumers can search using the establishment number on the USDA FSIS’s website, specifically the “Salmonella Verification Testing Program Monthly Posting” page, at www.fsis.usda.gov, to see updated establishment ratings.
The USDA also operates a meat and poultry hotline at 888-674-6854.
