Experts call for stronger <EM>E.coli</EM> prevention

ST. PAUL, MINN.— Two Minnesota food safety experts called Tuesday for improved training for meat processing workers and better pasteurization techniques in response to heightened concern about E. coli-contaminated beef.

Joellen Fiertag and Jeff Bender, food safety experts at the University of Minnesota, spoke about the issue on Minnesota Public Radio News on Tuesday, following a weekend report in The New York Times that described safety weaknesses in the industry.

The two agreed that irradiation can make meat safer. Although irradiation was approved by FDA more than 10 years ago and extensive studies showing it's safe to eat, Bender said, many consumers still won't buy it.

Some fear the process chemically alters the food, and have called for more research to prove a long-term diet of irradiated meat is safe. Others believe the process makes the food radioactive, even though that's not the case, Fiertag said.

But even if more meat goes through an irradiation process, improved practices for slaughtering and processing livestock animals are also needed, the researchers said.

Read the complete story at MPR News.