WASHINGTON — S.T.O.P. – Safe Tables Our Priority and victims of foodborne
illness called upon the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to
recognize as adulterants six other potentially deadly types of E. coli bacteria
in addition to the notorious E. coli O157:H7 that is currently classified as an
adulterant. All seven strains are known to cause devastating human illness and
are transmitted through feces-contaminated beef products.
“The USDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have known
for decades of the public health risks posed by non-O157 strains of E. coli,”
said S.T.O.P. President Nancy Donley, whose son died from E. coli O157 in 1993.
“Yet, 10 years after requiring public health laboratories to report positive
test results for these strains from infected people, nothing has been done to
prevent meat contaminated with these strains from entering into commerce.”
E. coli O157:H7 was declared an adulterant in ground beef in 1994 in the
aftermath of an outbreak that sickened more than 700 people and killed at least
four. The CDC has since identified six additional strains of shiga-toxin
producing E. coli (STEC) — O26, O111, O103, O121, O45 and O145 — associated
with severe illness and death. Just like E. coli O157:H7, these STEC strains get
into the nation’s beef supply when cattle feces contaminate meat during
slaughter and processing.
At a demonstration outside USDA, Donley and other victim members of S.T.O.P.
demanded that USDA enact health-based strategies to prevent all types of E.
coli-contaminated beef from reaching consumers’ tables. This includes:
- Recognizing as adulterants the six additional E. coli strains.
- Expanding the definition of adulterant to include E .coli O157:H7 when in
any type of beef, not just ground beef or beef intended for ground beef. - Implementing better ways of tracing all STEC outbreaks to prevent
widespread illness and deaths. - Asking Congress for mandatory USDA recall authority. Currently, all
government agency food recalls are voluntary and issued by the companies
responsible.
According to the CDC, 76 million Americans become sick from foodborne pathogens
each year and 325,000 are hospitalized, of which 5,000 die.
For more information and to sign up for E-alerts on food recalls and outbreaks,
visit www.safetables.org.