Designed to further protect customers against foodborne illnesses, Walmart announced it will implement enhanced poultry safety measures for supplies.

According to the company, these new guidelines are in addition to Walmart’s food safety program that requires poultry suppliers to achieve prevention-based certification against one of the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) internationally recognized standards.

“At Walmart and Sam’s Club, we are committed to providing our customers with safe, quality foods,” said Frank Yiannas, vice president for food safety. “As part of our continuous improvement process, we determined it was important to require additional layers of protection for our customers.”

Under the new program Walmart and Sam’s Club US poultry suppliers are required to implement holistic controls from farm to fork designed to reduce potential contamination levels, including chicken parts.

Suppliers will also be required to undergo specialized testing to validate that the measures they have implemented are effective.  Walmart, which partnered with CDC on the initiative, said all poultry suppliers must be in compliance with the new requirements by June 2016.