The Agriculture Department is reviewing research that shows new bacteria-killing chemicals used in chicken slaughterhouses may be masking the presence of salmonella and other pathogens that remain on the meat that consumers buy, according to records and interviews.
Academic researchers agree that the chemicals could be overwhelming an antiquated testing process. Several of the scientists have been enlisted by the USDA's food safety experts to help resolve the matter.
The issue came to the department's attention this spring after chemical companies pointed to academic research that shows there could be a problem and told the USDA that further study was needed.