Washington, DC - The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) today announced that the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF) will hold full committee and subcommittees meetings September 9-11, 2015.

The full committee will hold an open plenary session followed by concurrent open meetings of two subcommittees. The Subcommittee on Effective Salmonella Control Strategies for Poultry will discuss additional strategies that FSIS could implement to reduce Salmonella infections. The Subcommittee on Study of Virulence Factors and Attributes that Define Foodborne Shiga Toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) as Severe Human Pathogens will work to increase the scientific information available on STECs and investigate improved detection and identification methods for these pathogens.

The full committee meeting will be held on Sept. 9 from 10 a.m. until noon at the Residence Inn by Marriott, located at 333 E St., SW Washington, DC 20024.

Open and concurrent subcommittee meetings will continue Sept 9, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., Sept. 10 and Sept. 11 from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Patriot’s Plaza III building, 1st floor auditorium and conference rooms, located at 355 E. St., SW Washington, DC 200024. Additional details and the meeting agenda are accessible on the FSIS website: www.fsis.usda.gov/meetings.

Persons interested in making a presentation, submitting technical papers, or providing comments at the Sept. 9, plenary session, may contact Karen Thomas at (202) 690-6620 or via e-mail at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. The mailing address is: Karen Thomas-Sharp, USDA, FSIS, Office of Public Health Science, 1400 Independence Avenue SW., Patriots Plaza 3, Mailstop 3777, Room 9–47, Washington, DC 20250.

Established in 1988, NACMCF provides scientific advice and recommendations to the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Health and Human Services on public health issues relative to the safety and wholesomeness of the U.S. food supply, including development of microbiological criteria and review and evaluation of epidemiological and risk assessment data and methodologies for assessing microbiological hazards in foods. The committee also provides scientific advice and recommendations to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Departments of Commerce and Defense.