Large Scale Vaccine Trial Started to Prevent Beef E coli Outbreaks
Cargill’s beef packing division is in the midst of a large-scale trial of a vaccine in cattle to combat E. coli O157:H7, a potentially deadly human pathogen that continues to cause massive E. coli ground beef recalls and multi-state outbreaks of E. coli infection.
A Cargill spokesman told the Lincoln Journal Star newspaper in Nebraska that the company is working with feedlot owners to position the slaughter of about 100,000 vaccinated cattle in the May-September period of 2010. The trial involves about a dozen feedlots and Cargill’s beef plant at Fort Morgan, Colorado. Cargill is the largest producer of ground beef in the United States.
While studies have shown varying degrees of effectiveness, many researchers believe E. coli vaccines can reduce the number of animals carrying the bacteria by 65 to 75 percent. While no one contends that vaccines will wipe out the strain of E. coli that causes hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) and thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP), a reduction in the volume of bacteria is expected to curtail the number of E. coli O157:H7 outbreaks.
The latest one is an active E. coli restaurant steak outbreak related to the December 24th recall by National Steak and Poultry of 248,000 pounds of boneless steak and other beef products sold to restaurants. Officials so far have said 21 people have been sickened in 16 states, including Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Colorado, South Dakota, Washington, Kansas and Iowa.
More common are outbreaks involving ground beef.
According to a review of federal records by national food safety law firm Pritzker Olsen Attorneys, more than 1 million pounds of ground beef and beef cuts intended for grinding were recalled from market in 2009 by USDA-inspected slaughter plants and processors. The largest of the 15 recalls covered 545,699 pounds of ground beef produced this fall by Fairbank Farms of Ashville, N.Y.
Multi-state E. coli outbreaks associated with these recalls killed at least three people and sickened at least 80, according to the records. The outbreaks resulted in at least 34 hospitalizations and eight confirmed cases of life-threatening hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a disease especially dangerous to children that causes kidney failure and many other serious health conditions.
From January 2007 to December 2009, the industry initiated at least 52 recalls of beef tainted with E. coli O157:H7 compared with 20 in the three previous years, according to the New York Times.
