The federal government is taking action to try to rid the nation’s beef supply of six potentially lethal strains of E. coli bacteria that infect an estimated 113,000 consumers annually.
Starting in March, meat packers will be required to test for the six strains, and it will be illegal to sell raw meat contaminated with the pathogens.
“This is one of the biggest steps forward in the protection of the beef supply in some time,” Dr. Elisabeth Hagen, who heads food safety for the Department of Agriculture, told The New York Times. “We’re doing this to prevent illness and save lives.”
The action, due to be formally announced today by the Agriculture Department, long has been opposed by the meat industry as expensive and unnecessary. It will treat the six forms of E. coli the same way that the government already treats the more common and notorious strain known as E. coli 0157:H7.
It has been illegal to sell meat contaminated with that pathogen since 1994 — a ban imposed after an E. coli outbreak linked to hamburgers sold at Jack in the Box restaurant chain killed four children and sickened more than 700 people.
Symptoms of the infection include bloody diarrhea, stomach cramps and, in the most severe cases, kidney failure.
The decision by regulators was welcomed by food safety advocates but criticized by meat industry officials who said the action wasn’t supported by science.
As The Wall Street Journal reports, an official with the American Meat Institute said “imposing this new regulatory program on ground beef will cost tens of millions of federal and industry dollars, costs that likely will be borne by taxpayers and consumers. It is neither likely to yield a significant public health benefit nor is it good public policy.”
But Bill Marler, a food safety lawyer in Seattle who has pushed for the ban, praised U.S. agriculture officials for pushing through the new rule despite pressure from the meat industries in the U.S., Australia and Argentina. “It’s a big recognition that there are other pathogens out there that cause human disease,” he said.
The affected types of E. coli are sometimes known as the “Big Six” strains. They include strains 026, 0111, 0103, 0121, 045 and 0145. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2010 those strains were, for the first time ever, responsible for more infections in the U.S. than E. coli 0157.
A landmark food safety bill was signed into law in January by President Obama with the aim of preventing outbreaks of illnesses and deaths from E. coli and other food contamination. The momentum for the bill grew in large part because of a series of highly publicized episodes of mass food contamination.
ROBERT T. NELSON
Related Posts:
Contamination Spurs Recalls of Ground Beef, Bacon
Watchdog Has a Cow Over Testing Program for Ground Beef
