Better E. coli Test Could Lower HUS-TTP
Ever since USDA Inspector General Phyllis Fong exposed as superficial our nation's testing methodology to find E. coli O157:H7 in ground beef, we realize more and more the need to improve our defense against this very dangerous pathogen.
Fong delivered a report last month that showed the USDA's method for test-sampling cuts of beef meant for ground beef -- beef trim -- is an insufficient screen to keep the bacteria out of hamburger -- which is still the most likely vector to cause multi-state outbreaks of E. coli O157:H7 poisoning. In 5 to 15 percent of these infections, the organism causes life-threatening hemoloytic uremic syndrome (HUS) or thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP). Children under 5 are most susceptible to HUS, which is the leading cause of E. coli death and can ravage any person of any age with a cascade of medical problems starting with kidney failure.
The Center for Public Integrity, a non-profit organization committed to investigative journalism, helped bring Fong's concerns to life with the following, reader-friendly description of the problem. The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) will be in charge of fixing it. Here's the Center for Public Integrity's take, with a few practical edits:
"Most of the ground beef consumed domestically is made of beef trim, the various bits left on a carcass after the choice cuts have been butchered. A device similar to a carrot peeler is used to slice roughly 4-inch pieces of trim off the cow, which are stacked into large bins, and sent off for testing before being ground. Under the current N-60 method, inspectors test 60 of these slices for E. coli. The process is overseen by the (FSIS).
Fong warned that, in situations where E. coli is present in 1 percent of the inspected bin, the current screening method would miss it over half the time. Or, as the report puts it, “if the contamination level is very low, FSIS is more likely to miss contamination than to detect it.”
