In a continuing effort to strengthen food safety programs and protect public health, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), through its Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), announced yesterday a series of new measures designed to reduce the incidence of E. coli O157:H7 contamination of raw ground beef. The actions are a result of FSIS's ongoing in-depth review of the current program and are based on scientific data that demonstrate the pathogen is more prevalent than previously estimated.

"Strengthening food safety programs that protect consumers from foodborne hazards continues to be a top priority at USDA," said Secretary of Agriculture Ann M.Veneman. "These actions will further help ensure that meat and poultry plants address ways to reduce the presence of E. coli O157:H7."

"The scientific data show that E. coli O157:H7 is more prevalent than previously estimated," said Under Secretary for Food Safety Dr. Elsa Murano. "These action steps move beyond detection of this hazard and on to preventing it."

In December 2001, FSIS announced that it would conduct a comprehensive review of current food safety regulations, including provisions of the 1996 Pathogen Reduction/Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (PR/HACCP) rule, to help improve the efficiency and accountability of FSIS programs and personnel. The following actions will be published in the Federal Register as a notice. USDA will:

• Require beef slaughter and grinding plants to acknowledge that E. coli O157:H7 is a hazard reasonably likely to occur in their operations, unless they can prove otherwise;
• Require, based on the above assumption, plants to perform a comprehensive re-examination of their food safety systems and include a step to eliminate or reduce the risk of E. coli O157:H7 in their product. In the case of grinding operations, this could consist of a requirement for their suppliers to certify the utilization of a decontamination method in their operation;
• Verify through increased USDA inspection that intervention steps implemented by establishments are validated, in that they are effective under actual in-plant conditions;
• Eliminate current exemptions from FSIS microbiological testing. This will result in random testing of all beef grinding operations by FSIS personnel and;
• Issue guidance to grinding facilities regarding additional prevention actions including: 1) increased plant testing for E. coli O157:H7; and 2) avoiding mixing product from different suppliers to reduce the chance of cross contamination and facilitate traceback investigations.