Most US ground beef tainted with E. coli
Date: 02-Mar-00
Country: USA
The new estimate adds to the growing evidence that the sometimes-deadly
bug is much more common in live cattle and carcasses than previously
believed by federal regulators.
American consumer groups have stepped up pressure for the USDA to
require the meat industry to adopt testing throughout the production and
distribution chain, a move opposed by firms who say broad testing will
not make food safer.
An estimated 89 percent of U.S. beef ground into patties contains some
E. coli 0157:H7, although the actual amount may be extremely small, said
Mark Powell, an epidemiologist with the USDA's Food Safety and
Inspection Service.
The bacteria is one of the deadliest forms of foodborne illness, causing
fever, bloody diarrhoea and even kidney failure. Outbreaks of E. coli
0157:H7 are most often linked to undercooked hamburgers, and usually
affect small children, the elderly and others with weak immune systems.
The Centres for Disease Control estimate 52 Americans die annually from
food with the bacteria, and 62,000 others are sickened.
E. COLI UBIQUITOUS IN HAMBURGER
"The bottom line is that E. coli 0157:H7 is pretty ubiquitous in ground
beef, but at very, very low levels," Powell said at a USDA meeting to
present a draft assessment of how risky ground beef is for consumers.
The document, which will be finalised and made public this spring, is
expected to help guide any changes in the USDA's meat safety standards.
The 89 percent prevalence rate applies to huge batches of raw meat -
typically 3,000 pounds or more - mixed together before being ground into
hamburger, Powell said. Each of the batches may contain less than 100 of
the microscopic E. coli 0157:H7 bacteria.
"It may be a small amount but in the right temperature conditions, that
rate could rapidly increase," Powell said. Fewer than 10 of the
organisms can cause illness.
Meat industry officials at the meeting disputed the estimate as based on
faulty data. They said it did not reflect rigorous testing by meat
grinders who produce patties for restaurant chains and other buyers with
high standards.
But consumer groups point to the data as yet another reason why more
safety testing is needed all along the production line by both the
government and meat plants.
"Like throwing darts at a dart board, although the government hits the
target occasionally, it is clearly missing a lot of the problem," said
Caroline Smith DeWaal, director of food safety for the Centre for
Science in the Public Interest. "The (testing) programme is not
systematic."
The meat industry said it wants to focus on preventive measures to
control E. coli 0157:H7, but acknowledged there may be a role for more
testing in the slaughterhouse.
STEAM, ACID RINSES KILL BUG
The American Meat Institute, a trade group, said a new industry-funded
study showed a series of steps in beef packing plants were effective in
killing the bacteria.
Fewer than 1 percent of carcasses treated with organic acid, steam or
hot water rinses had E. coli 0157:H7, compared to 3.5 percent before the
treatments, the study said.
If the USDA required systematic carcass testing for the bacteria,
slaughter plants could remove contaminated ones before they are
processed into meat, the industry group said.
"It is our hope that this data will encourage USDA to reevaluate its
ground beef sampling programme," said Jim Hodges, president of the
American Meat Institute Foundation. "A carcass testing programme for E.
coli 0157:H7 is more practical and will help ensure that the safest and
most wholesome product possible enters commerce."
The new USDA estimate of contamination in raw meat destined for ground
beef adds to growing data that E. coli 0157:H7 is not as rare as
regulators once thought.
USDA researchers in Nebraska last autumn found the bug in 50 percent of
feedlot cattle being fattened for slaughter during summer months. The
rate plunged to 1 percent