A $25 million federal research grant has been awarded to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) to improve risk management and assessment of eight strains of toxic E. coli in beef.
The broad grant will be shared with researchers at nine other schools and the team will work collaboratively with several consumer groups, cattlemen groups and meat processor associations to improve the safety of the beef supply. UNL’s Dr. James Keen will lead the effort, which will study the pathogen throughout the arc of a beef cow’s life, into processing and preparation of beef for consumption.
E. coli O157:H7 has long been a feared micro-organism in beef cattle and it is banned from ground beef because of its danger to humans. The bugs live benignly in the hindguts of cows and other animals and enter the food supply if infected fecal matter contaminates meat during slaughter.
In September 2011, USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced a proposal to declare six additional serogroups of pathogenic E. coli as adulterants in non-intact raw beef. Under the proposal, if the serogroups O26, O103, O45, O111, O121 and O145 are found in raw ground beef or its precursors, those products will be prohibited from entering commerce. USDA will launch a testing program to detect these dangerous pathogens and prevent them from reaching consumers.
Here are the five principal goal areas of the E. colistudy grant:
- Detection: develop and implement rapid detection technologies for pre-harvest, post-harvest and consumer environments.
- Biology: characterize the biological and epidemiological factors that drive outbreaks of STEC in pre-harvest, post-harvest, retail and consumer settings.
- Interventions: develop effective and economical interventions to lessen STEC risk from cattle, hides, carcasses, and ground and non-intact beef and compare the feasibility of implementing these interventions for large, small and very small beef producers.
- Risk analysis and assessment: develop a risk assessment model for STEC from live cattle to consumption to evaluate mitigation strategies and their expected public health impacts.
- Risk management and communication: translate research findings into user-friendly food-safety deliverables for stakeholders, food safety professionals, regulators, educators and consumers.
