Meat Safety Chief: Increase <EM>E. Coli</EM> Testing

SEATTLE, Wash. — President Bush’s meat-safety chief says he’s determined to increase testing for E. coli contamination before he leaves office.

The U.S. Agriculture Department announced plans this week to begin testing beef for six more deadly strains of E. coli bacteria.

Now, beef is tested for only a single strain, known as O157. It is the only strain the government classifies as an “adulterant” in food, which makes contaminated products subject to recall.

“We need to address this tougher problem and take some moves there to help protect the American public,” Richard Raymond, USDA’s undersecretary for food safety, said at a food safety conference.

Raymond, a physician who was formerly the chief medical officer in Nebraska, said results from some public health laboratories shows illnesses form non-O157 strains of E. coli are “at least as prevalent” as O157 illnesses. He said the non-O157 strains are harder to detect.

The University of Iowa Hygienic Laboratory tested 1,285 people for suspected E. coli illnesses in 2007 and identified 76 positive cases.
Thirty-three were confirmed as O157, while 32 tested positive for non-O157 strains. The strains in the other 11 cases could not be identified.

Read the full Des Moines Register story here.