The Agriculture Department will not require poultry companies to limit salmonella bacteria in their products, “halting a Biden Administration effort to prevent food poisoning from contaminated meat,” reported the Associated Press.

The department last week said it was withdrawing the rule proposed in August after three years of development. “Officials with the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service cited feedback from more than 7,000 public comments and said they would ‘evaluate whether it should update’ current salmonella regulations,” according to the outlet.

The proposed rule would have required poultry companies to keep levels of salmonella bacteria under a certain amount and test for the presence of six strains most associated with salmonella, including three found in turkey and three in chicken. If the levels “exceeded the standard or any of those strains were found, the poultry couldn’t be sold and would be subject to recall,” the proposal had said.

“The plan aimed to reduce an estimated 125,000 salmonella infections from chicken and 43,000 from turkey each year, according to USDA. Overall, salmonella causes 1.35 million infections a year, most through food, and about 420 deaths, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” wrote AP.

Earlier this month, the USDA said it would delay the enforcement of a final rule regulating salmonella levels in certain breaded and stuffed raw chicken products by six months. Enforcement, which was set for May 1, now begins November 3, per AP.

In other recent food safety news, last month NACS Daily reported that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it intends to extend the compliance date for its Food Traceability Rule by an additional 30 months, giving businesses until July 20, 2028 to comply. The rule, finalized in 2022, is part of FDA’s efforts to strengthen its response to foodborne illness outbreaks, but NACS and others in the broader food industry have long raised concerns about the rule’s unworkable requirements.