USDA-FSIS Guidance for Reducing Escherichia coli O157:H7 Shedding in Cattle
USDA-FSIS has issued a guidance for reducing Escherichia coli O157:H7 (E. coli O157:H7). According to the guidance, pre-harvest cattle management controls and interventions are emerging as an option that offers great opportunity to improve food safety.
Consensus within the beef industry is that beef producers should follow basic recommended principles of cattle management. The following are the basic recommended principles of cattle management.
- Clean water;
- Clean feed;
- Clean environment that is appropriately drained;
- Separate housing of calves and heifer or reduced animal density; and
- Biosecurity—wildlife exclusion to the extent possible.
According to the FSIS, current research has not shown a reduction E. coli O157:H7 shedding in cattle when these basic principles are used. Nevertheless, FSIS supports the principles because of their foundation in animal health and welfare. They provide a foundation for the processing interventions and sanitary dressing procedures used to control E. coli O157:H7 contamination in raw beef.
Wisconsin Governor Vetoes Raw Milk Bill
After months of debate, Governor Jim Doyle vetoed Senate Bill 434, which would have made it legal to sell raw, unpasteurized milk in Wisconsin. In his letter to the Wisconsin Senate regarding yesterday’s veto, Governor Doyle stated the following:
I cannot ignore potential harmful health effects of consuming unpasteurized milk that have been raised by many groups, including: the Wisconsin Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Wisconsin Public Health Association, the Wisconsin Association of Local Health Departments and Boards, the Wisconsin Academy of Family Physicians, the Wisconsin Medical Society, Marshfield Clinic, Gundersen Lutheran and the Wisconsin Veterinary Medical Association.
The sale of unpasteurized milk has become an increasingly contentious issue in Wisconsin and around the country. I recognize that there are strong feelings on both sides of this matter, but I must side with public health and the safety of the dairy industry. Therefore, I am vetoing this bill.
E. coli Prevention Research Targets Pathogens in Cattle
E. coli prevention research shows evidence of progress toward keeping e coli outbreaks from happening by stopping the bacteria where it starts–inside cattle’s digestive systems, according to news reports.
Microbiologists at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center have been working with the USDA on a study that will soon be reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study shows that it can be possible to hinder the harmful E. coli O157:H7 bacterium from colonizing in cattle in the first place, therefore lessening the likelihood that it could contaminate water and food supplies and sicken humans.
“If we can find a way to prevent these bacteria from ever colonizing in cattle, it’s possible that we can have a real impact on human disease.” said Dr. Vanessa Sperandio, associate professor of microbiology and an author of the study. Sperandio said the study is significant because the harmful pathogen is carried in about 70 to 80 percent of cattle herds in the United States. Although E coli 0157 can be deadly for humans it can live in the guts of cattle without harming them.
E. Coli HUS Lawsuit From Contaminated Well Water
A lawsuit involving contaminated well water has been settled by food safety attorney Elliot Olsen of Pritzker Olsen law firm. Although E. coli infections are more commonly associated with contaminated food like ground beef, it is entirely possible to contract E. coli poisoning from water supplies as well.
In this particular case, an Iowa toddler became sick from E. coli-contaminated well water that served as the water supply to the rural home her family rented. In May of 2007 she became sick with symptoms of an E. coli infection, including severe diarrhea and abdominal pain. She was hospitalized and her symptoms worsened as the pathogen infected her blood. Her condition, known as hemolytic uremic syndrome ( HUS), destroyed her red blood cells and kept the kidneys from serving their purpose as filters that clean and remove waste from the bloodstream.
She was put on kidney dialysis and remained in the hospital for about a month. Even three years later, she has permanent kidney damage and will continue to require medication and treatment, and could need a kidney transplant later in life.
Employees of the Iowa county where the home is located tested tap water from the house in June of 2007 and the results were positive for E. coli. The home is surrounded by pasture land, and cattle are known to graze on land uphill from the well. Expert witnesses, including a PhD environmental engineer from a major university and a PhD microbiologist from another major university specializing in E-coli, were hired to examine the situation and confirmed that cattle manure in rainwater most likely drained into the well and contaminated the water with the pathogen.
Although settlement earned for this young girl will help offset past and future medical expenses, they cannot undo the suffering this family has experienced. Nor will the settlement change the fact that property owners have a duty to their tenants to provide safe, clean drinking water—a duty that the property owner in this case has failed to fulfill.
E. coli Vaccine Could Be Possible, Research Finds
Researchers for drug company Novartis have discovered that it could be possible to develop a vaccine for E. coli food poisoning and other illnesses cause by the harmful pathogen, Reuters reports.
The drug maker’s lab in Siena, Italy has been the site of this research, which has involved computer modeling and mice testing. Based off of the gene map of the E. coli bacterium, the researchers chose several hundred antigens common to illness-causing strains of E.coli. They administered these to mice that were then exposed to deadly amounts of disease-causing E.coli, and nine of these antigens successfully prevented infection.
The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, stated that a combination of these antigens has the potential to create an E.coli vaccine. The hope is that human testing could begin in 2012, said researcher MariaGrazia Pizza. “The development of such a vaccine will be very challenging for the company, but if we were successful at the end, obviously it would be a big thing,” Pizza said.
E. coli Poisoning Facts
- Researchers said this potential vaccine could protect against non-foodborne illnesses resulting from E.coli poisoning as well, including urinary infections and meningitis in newborns.
- Not all strains of E. coli are harmful. Animals and humans can have E. coli in their digestive system and not get sick.
- The U.S. Department of Agriculture currently only tests food sources for E. coli O157:H7, however, that is not the only disease-causing strain.
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has identified six strains of E. coli that have been associated with illness and death. They are Ecoli 026, 0111, 0103, 0121, 045, and 0145.
- E. coli poisoning can result in serious conditions including hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) and thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP).
Food safety lawyers at Pritzker Olsen law firm have represented clients seriously ill with E. coli O157 and other strains as well. They have also represented the families of victims who have died from E. coli food poisoning. Cases like these require a highly specialized level of familiarity with microbiological and epidemiological evidence, food industry regulations and practices, and of course, the laws that protect the rights of foodborne illness victims.
Raw Milk E. Coli Threat Ignored in Wisconsin
The Wisconsin Assembly early this morning passed a bill legalizing the sale of raw milk for public consumption.
The 60-35 vote overrode serious health concerns raised by the state’s own disease experts, pediatricians, food safety groups and farm bureau. County health investigators from around the state had testified about the dangers such a law would pose — increasing the public’s exposure to toxic micro-organisms.
E. coli O157:H7 is one of the threats that will lurk in the commercial trade of raw milk because pasteurization is required to kill the pathogen, which can be expressed through a cow’s udders but also can contaminate milk supplies via the incidental spread of cow feces in milking environments.
Campylobacter and Salmonella can also contaminate raw milk in this way and outbreaks of these illnesses have happened already this year in several states, including Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and Pennsylvania.
Rep. Andy Jorgensen (D-Fort Atkinson) told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that he opposed the bill because the public currently sees the state’s signature product as “delicious, nutritious and safe.”
“I don’t want to tarnish that,” Jorgensen said.
Under the legislation, sales could take place only at farms where the milk was produced. The bill would sunset on Dec. 31, 2011. Farmers would have to post a sign declaring that raw milk may contain organisms that cause disease.
The bill, a similar version of which was previously passed by the state Senate, also would have to say that raw milk is not recommended for certain people, including the very young and very old, women who are pregnant or nursing, and individuals with diabetes or compromised immune systems.
