ABSTRACT
Government regulation and basic research Olivia is fortunate enough to have landed a summer internship with the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Every morning she receives a shipment of raw chicken products, kept cool in sealed containers with dry ice, purchased from supermarkets in many parts of the country. Her job is to carefully record the purchase information and company names, perform routine swab tests on the surface of the birds, and transfer those swab samples to special media. These samples are then allowed to incubate at a specific time and temperature to determine if the samples are within specified tolerances for Salmonella species. If the bacterial count of the samples from a particular company is out of tolerance, more sampling is done on products from that company and store. Evidence of a continuing problem will result in a visit to the offending plant and a possible voluntary recall of product.
