Source: Rita Jane Gabbett, MEATINGPLACE, 9/13/11

USDA is set to announce this morning it will declare six non-O157 E. coli strains as adulterants in certain raw beef products, according to industry sources briefed ahead of today’s announcement and legislators reacting to the news in advance.  

USDA officials also briefed the New York Times on the announcement, which reported the new rules will take effect in March 2012 and will apply to ground beef, beef trim, and needle tenderized whole beef muscle products such as steaks.

Not a surprise
Declaring these strains (serotypes: 026, 045, 0103, 0111, 0121 and 0145) adulterants in certain raw beef products has been long debated and today’s announcement was widely anticipated.

A year ago, the debate was reignited after Cargill recalled 8,500 pounds of ground beef over concerns about a connection between E. coli O26 and three illnesses in two states, marking the first recall directly relating a beef product to illnesses traced to a non-O157:H7 STEC.

In a November 2010 interview with Meatingplace, USDA Under Secretary for Food Safety Elisabeth Hagen discussed the agency’s efforts to develop viable testing protocols for six non-O157 STECS. Since then, she has repeatedly said USDA needed to broaden its reach on ground beef pathogen control beyond E. coli O157:H7.

In June, USDA officials confirmed the proposal was awaiting approval by the Office of Management and Budget.

Some meat processors have already begun testing for the six strains. In July, Beef Products Inc. announced it was expanding its testing protocols to six pathogenic, non-O157:H7 forms of E. coli, and would hold product until negative test results came back.

Advocates and opponents
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), who has been calling for USDA to take this action for some time, praised the move.

“I am thrilled that the USDA will at last recognize these six devastating strains of E. coli as adulterants…When a similar action was taken on E. coli O157:H7, its prevalence decreased by nearly fourfold, and I hope to see a similar result with these six strains,” she said in a statement.

The American Meat Institute, however, has long opposed the move.

“It is neither likely to yield a significant public health benefit nor is it good public policy,” said AMI Executive Vice President James Hodges in a statement emailed to Meatingplace.

Hodges went on to say banning a pathogen cannot make a product safe and suggested the millions of dollars spent testing for these strains would be better spent toward preventative strategies.

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