National Branded Products - Raw Whole Bird Chicken | Raw Chicken Parts | Raw Ground Turkey
Suppliers providing raw whole bird chicken, raw chicken parts, and/or raw ground turkey products are required to obtain and maintain GFSI-recognized certification at all production facilities. Failure to maintain annual certification may result in loss of business and deactivation of your vendor number. GFSI-recognized certification is required for all sites that manufacture or process raw whole bird chicken, raw chicken parts, and/or raw ground turkey products that will be sold at Walmart and/or Sam’s Club, regardless of ownership. It is the responsibility of the supplier to ensure all sites manufacturing or processing raw whole bird chicken, raw chicken parts, and/or raw turkey products maintain compliance with our audit requirements – Walmart does not schedule audits for suppliers or sites. Suppliers will be required to disclose their supply chain to ensure compliance with these requirements. Any changes to supply chain sites shall be communicated to your Food Safety manager. New sites must have approval prior to use.
For more information about the GFSI-recognized certification process and to view a full list of recognized schemes, we recommend visiting the official GFSI website.
These requirements are applicable to suppliers who provide the fresh or frozen raw whole bird chicken, raw chicken parts, and raw ground turkey products. It should be noted that these requirements are applicable to product sold raw to our customers/members as well as product that is supplied raw to our stores and clubs which will be cooked prior to being provided to our customers/members, such as rotisserie chickens.
Poultry products have been involved in multiple high-profile recalls and outbreaks over the past decade. In light of these incidents, we require all poultry suppliers that provide the poultry products outlined above to meet our poultry safety initiative. Suppliers of these products must comply with the following requirements.
- To reduce the vertical transmission of Salmonella to broiler flocks, all poultry suppliers are expected to source from primary breeders who participate in USDA’s National Poultry Improvement Plan (NPIP) for Breeding Poultry (9 CFR 145.83). Countries outside of the U.S. that do not source from breeders participating in the NPIP program should source from breeders who comply with equivalent requirements.
- Salmonella data, obtained via the current NPIP programs, or equivalent, must be reviewed by your company on a regular basis to measure the effectiveness of preventive and corrective actions that occur when Salmonella is detected and to reduce the likelihood of re-occurrences.
- When Salmonella serotypes known to be associated with human illness are detected in a housing complex, suppliers must use autogenous and/or commercial Salmonella bacterins for vaccination of broiler-breeder (parental) flocks against the serotypes found. Moreover, to further control horizontal transmission at the broiler farm level, we expect all of our suppliers to strictly adhere to disease prevention best practices associated with biosecurity and vector control.
- Poultry suppliers must implement a regulatory approved intervention or a combination of interventions between pre-scald to post-chill that will consistently produce, at a minimum, a cumulative 4-log reduction of Salmonella. The intervention(s) and their corresponding reductions must be scientifically validated. Each facility processing whole chickens provided to our stores/clubs, whole chickens that are further processed into chicken parts that are provided to our stores/clubs, and whole turkeys that are further processed into ground turkey that is provided to our stores/clubs are required to comply with this requirement, regardless of ownership.
- Poultry suppliers providing raw chicken parts must implement a regulatory approved intervention or a combination of interventions post-chill, after cut-up of whole chickens (past the current whole bird carcass rinse sampling point), and prior to packaging. The intervention(s) must consistently produce a reduction of Salmonella on all chicken parts. The intervention(s) and their corresponding reductions must be scientifically validated. Each facility providing chicken parts is required to comply, regardless of ownership.
- Poultry suppliers providing raw ground turkey must implement a regulatory approved intervention or a combination of interventions post-chill, after cut-up of whole turkeys (past the current whole bird carcass rinse sampling point), and prior to packaging. The intervention(s) must consistently produce, at a minimum, a 1-log reduction of Salmonella on all ground turkey supplied to our stores and clubs. The intervention(s) and their corresponding reductions must be scientifically validated. Each facility providing ground turkey is required to comply, regardless of ownership.
Please be aware that suppliers will be required to submit scientific validations of their interventions, for review and approval prior to being allowed to provide the product to our stores and clubs. It should also be noted that the microorganisms used for validations must be indicative of enteric pathogens and APC counts will not be accepted.
Suppliers are responsible for ensuring all sites providing product to Walmart retail operations are compliant with any applicable international (including foreign national), federal, state, and local requirements. In addition, all products provided must be compliant with the federal, state, and local requirements for the store or club in which the products will be sold. This may include, but is not limited to, USDA, FDA, and/or state registration of a supplier’s site, and any related product labeling requirements. All products provided to Walmart must be produced in a commercial food manufacturing or packing environment.
Suppliers (both domestic and foreign) are also expected to assist regulatory and health agencies with investigations in a timely manner. Walmart assists various regulatory agencies in outbreak investigations and expect suppliers to provide any traceback documentation that may be requested. Likewise, if public health may be at risk, even if products produced by a supplier have not been directly implicated in an outbreak, it is our expectation that suppliers comply with any recommended product removals.
If for any reason a situation arises where you need to remove product from Walmart Stores, Sam’s Clubs, Distribution Centers, or Fulfillment Centers:
- Contact your Buyer and your Food Safety Manager immediately to communicate that a removal is necessary. For any impending recalls impacting Walmart and/or Sam’s Club, it is important that this contact be made prior to any public notification. Additional information may be requested, which must be provided in a timely manner.
- The Walmart Recall Managers will take the lead in initiating the recall, communicating to all impacted stores, clubs, distribution centers, and fulfillment centers to hold or remove product quickly. They will also send communications to our members and online customers notifying them of a potential issue. Once a recall is terminated and you have approval, you may resume sending safe products to our stores, clubs, distribution centers, and fulfillment centers.
- Recall information, based on manufacturers’ and regulatory agencies’ press releases that involve products sold through Walmart stores, Walmart.com, Sam’s Club, or SamsClub.com can be found here.
Retail Link® is an online hub for the data, documentation, reports, and special applications that suppliers use to manage their business with Walmart. The Product Removal app is located within Retail Link® and is used to remove products from stores, clubs, distribution centers and fulfillment centers. The Walmart Food Safety & Health compliance team uses data to execute product withdrawals and recalls through this portal.