Ground beef E. coli Traceback Investigations To Get Tougher Under USDA Initiative
TheUSDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is poised to implement new, more aggressive traceback procedures when meat samples at grinding plants test positive for E. coli O157:H7.
Currently FSIS acknowledges that its traceback investigations are less robust when there is no outbreak of illness associated with a positive test result at a further processing plant.
FSIS said its plan is to speed up and expand efforts to find the original source of contamination and any other contaminated products when E coli O157:H7 is found in routine ground beef testing.
Under the new protocol, traceback investigations will begin immediately when FSIS gets a preliminary or “presumptive” finding of E. coli in routine testing of ground beef. That will provide investigators a two-day jump. The current approach is to wait 48 hours for the presumptive test to be confirmed.
“We intend to identify all affected product and the potential suppliers earlier in the process and to respond more rapidly to protect the public health,” FSIS official Judy Riggins said at the meeting.
Riggins said that if the sample of contaminated ground beef included materials from several suppliers, inspectors will go to all suppliers.
Dr. Daniel Engeljohn of FSIS said at the meeting last month that the issue is the degree to which the agency traces the source ofE. coli when samples test positive.
“It is a difference in how we do it with an investigation related to illness,” Engeljohn said. ” What we announced today is a substantive change to more thoroughly investigate traceback to the slaughter supplier more so than what we do today.”
The change, however, will not stop Montana Senator John Tester from proceeding with a bill that would require the FSIS to trace E. coli contamination to the original source — not just the butcher shop or processing facility that sold trimmings to a grinding plant. He has maintained that investigations stop before they get to the original slaughter facility where E. coli most likely was introduced.
E. coli O157:H7 is a dangerous human pathogen that grows harmlessly in the guts of cattle. The organisms exit in manure that can lodge on an animal’s hide. At slaughter, it can flake off the hide and contaminate meat. It’s also possible for E. coli to splatter onto cuts of meat if intestines are cut.
Cooking meat to 160 degrees kills E. coli, but temperatures don’t always reach that high inside a ground beef hamburger or meatball, especially when hamburgers are cooked on a grill. Color is not an indicator of doneness.
Once consumed, E. coli O157:H7 microbes emit a powerful toxin that causes extremely painful stomach cramps, nausea, fever and diarrhea, often bloody. In five to 15 percent of cases, patients develop life-threatening hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) orthrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP). In a given year, about 60 Americans will die fromE. coli and more than 70,000 are hospitalized.
Spinach E. coli Outbreak Inspires ‘Traceability Boot Camp’
The 2006 baby spinach E. coli outbreak that killed three and sickened hundreds of others in the United States is part of the inspiration for a series of one-day Fresh Produce Traceability Boot Camps in California this month.
The third of seven programs sponsored by the Western Growers produce association and the Traceability Institute was held yesterday at the Courtyard Airport Hotel in Fresno.
According to a promotional brochure, the “boot camps” are aimed at fresh fruit and vegetable produce growers, packers, shippers, distributors, CFOs, CEOs, managers, supervisors and food safety staff. The intent is to apply technology — mostly bar-coding for now — in order for any box of produce coming from the Central Valley to be quickly identified by the location of harvest and for records to show how it was handled and where it went.
The concept is to develop a reliable system of tracing the origin of produce from an end-user’s fork to the patch of ground where it was grown. Speedy tracebacks will help smother outbreaks of E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella and other pathogens by quickly identifying which food is making people sick and immediately recalling the lots suspected of contamination.
Hank Giclas, Vice-President of Strategic Planning for Western Growers, told KFSN-TV in Fresno that technology and acceptance is advancing to the point where bar-coding could extend to each individual head of lettuce, rather than by the case.
The station reported that growers see improved traceability as an effective marketing tool because of growing concern over food safety.
Said Giclas: “”It allows for swift identification of where your product is in the marketplace or supply chain and if needed, capture those products and remove from the marketplace.”
High Season for E. coli is Near
E. coli outbreaks happen all year round, but studies have shown that the high season for E. coli O157:H7 infections starts in April and runs through September.
In this season of long days,E. coli microbes cluster in greater concentrations inside the guts of cattle — making it more likely for some of the pathogens to slip through the defenses set up to stop them at slaughterhouses. A chronic source of contamination, still not solved by the meatpacking industry, is fecal matter from hides cross-contaminating meat surfaces.
When primal cuts containingE. coli O157:H7 are ground up for hamburger, the pathogens get mixed in and survive cooking temperatures if they are lodged in the center of under-cooked patties or meat.
Warmer air temperatures are not thought to cause the high concentrations, but summer temps do support colonizing of the organisms when they are outside the refrigerator.
There is a very close association between E. coli O157:H7 infection and E. coli HUS, or hemolytic uremic syndrome. There also is a close association in older adults with thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, or TTP.
The life-threatening seriousness of HUS, TTP and hemorrhagic colitis and the relatively small number of cells that it takes to make a person sick make E. coli O157:H7 one of the most dangerous of human pathogens, causing an estimated 60 deaths each year in the United States and thousands of hospitalizations.
Meat products — particularly ground beef — are still the leading source of infection. But unpasteurized milk or apple cider, leafy green vegetables, other vegetables, fruits and other raw foods can carry E. coli O157:H7. Last year, for example, a nationwide outbreak was caused by uncooked Nestle Toll House cookie dough.
As we enter spring and summer, it’s also important for parents to realize that E. coli O157:H7 infections can result from contact with animals at livestock exhibits, petting zoos, county fairs and state fairs. Children, the group most prone to developing HUS from an infection, are especially at risk in these situations.
Once ingested, E. coli O157:H7 cells line the gut and reproduce. While reproducing, the bacteria produce a powerful toxin called shiga-toxin. The shiga-toxin eats away at the cells of the intestinal wall and blood vessels running through the walls. These blood vessels can bleed into the bowel, which is why many people with E.coli O157:H7 have bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms include stabbing pains in the stomach, severe cramping, possible fever and possible vomiting.
HUS occurs in five to 15 percent of patients infected byE. coli. The disease sets in about a week to 10 days after the diarrhea starts. By then, the shiga-toxin has entered the blood stream and starts to destroy and misshape red blood cells, often leading to kidney failure.
But our experience representing HUS E. coli clients is that the disease is capable of much more than renal failure. HUS can lead to multi-organ failure, including damage of the heart, and many problems with the central nervous system and altering of the brain. Stroke, convulsions, brain stem injury, paralysis and coma are all problems associated with HUS.
For a complete list of E. coli prevention methods to protect your family this spring, summer and fall, click here.
Fresh Produce E. coli and Salmonella Targeted by New FDA Rulemaking
Fresh produce E. coli and Salmonella outbreaks have prompted a review by the Food and Drug Administration that will lead to a proposed new safety regulation for the produce industry.
The rule-making process has been launched with four public meetings to elicit feedback and comments from growers and other produce safety stakeholders. About 100 people attended the first session in Rochester, New York, in February and three more meetings are scheduled for March and April in Columbus, Ohio; Tifton, Georgia and Hyattsville, Maryland.
Currently there are no mandatory national produce safety standards in place, but the FDA did issue voluntary guidelines in 1998. Jim O’Hara, director of the Produce Safety Project at Georgetown University, has said that many retailers and supermarkets have their own safety guidelines, but there is no set standard across the board.
There is also a voluntary leafy green growers safety pact started by the industry, but problems have continued.
Attention to food safety in fresh produce has followed such high-profile foodborne illness outbreaks as the 2006 spinach E. coli outbreak that killed three people and sickened more than 200. One of the victims was a 2-year-old child who contracted HUS E. coli, or hemolytic uremic syndrome, the leading cause of kidney failure in children
Lettuce and leafy greens are on the top of the list of the 10 riskiest foods regulated by the FDA.
Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nutrition watchdog group for consumers, said the food group has been linked to the most food poisoning outbreaks — 363 outbreaks from 1990 to 2006 — of any of the foods that it surveyed.
The outbreaks of lettuce E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella, Campylobacter, Norovirus and other pathogens have caused more than 13,500 illnesses, the report said. Manure, contaminated irrigation water, or poor handling practices are all possible culprits in those outbreaks.
The next three FDA “stakeholders’ meetings” for produce safety rule making will be March 11 at the Blackwell Inn in Columbus, Ohio; March 25 at the University of Georgia’s College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences in Tifton and April 7 at the Marriott Inn and Conference Center in Hyattsville, Md.
Battlefront Shifts in Fight Against Beef E coli Outbreaks
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates about 73,480 people are infected each year with E. coli O157:H7, resulting in 600 deaths. Contaminated beef is a leading source of these illnesses and the chronic nature of beef E. coli outbreaks and recalls remains a constant focus of attention among regulators and industry.
Already since December 24, more than 1 million pounds of beef products have been recalled because they had potential to be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7.
Separate stories this week by USA Today reporter Elizabeth Weise and by Scott Canon of the Kansas City Star highlight an important trend in the battle: Intervention at the farm and feedlot level to reduce levels of the bacteria in animals’ guts and hides before they reach slaughter.
“The theory is that animals are carrying higher levels of E. coli during the summer months, and sometimes they may overwhelm the systems in place to control pathogen contamination in (processing) plants,” said James Marsden, a professor of food safety and security at Kansas State University.
As the USA Today story noted, new interventions are intended to flatten out the curve between winter months when less bacteria is entering the system and the April-September period when cattle shed higher concentrations of E. coli O157:H7 and external temperatures are more suitable for the pathogens to cluster.
Each new method, it is hoped, might take down the incidence of E. coli O157:H7 by a factor of 100. Together they could substantially lower the toll inflicted by the disease, which can cause cramps, bloody diarrhea, kidney failure and death. More than 5 percent of infections lead to life-threatening hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) or thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP).
What follows is a quick run-down on some of the methods being employed to reduce the overall universe of E. coli O157:H7 in cattle:
- Phages: Cattle walk through a car-wash-like spray of bacteria-eating viruses called phages. These viruses are harmless to humans and have been successfully used to kill a spotting bacteria on tomatoes and peppers in agricultures.
- Probiotics: Basically these are bacterial cultures much like those in yogurt, given to cattle in their feed. They’re called “competitive exclusion” cultures because they out-compete the bad bacteria and exclude them in the animals’ guts. The challenge to these is that they are hard to consistenting administer in large feedlot conditions.
- Diet: Research in Texas, Kansas and Idaho has shown that switching cattle from grain to a more expensive diet of high quality hay before slaughter may lower E. coli O157:H7 rates, though the findings have not always been consistent.
- Vaccine: Cargill Meat Solutions is in the midst of an active vaccination program in 100,000 cattle that will reach slaughter this spring. At an estimated cost of $3 to $10 per animal, vaccination against E. coli appears to have the potential to dramatically hinder the population of E. coli in the guts of cattle. A Minnesota-made vaccine called Epitopix already is in trial in the U.S. and Canada has its own E. coli vaccine that could possibly gain approval in the U.S.
From an epidemiologic standpoint, it’s clear that these pre-slaughter interventions lower the E. coli O157:H7 burden in the cattle, says Guy Loneragan, a professor of animal science and expert in O157:H7 in cattle at West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas.
