U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) has introduced new meat safety legislation that would target all high-risk pathogens and all currently unregulated strains of E. coli found in the meat supply. Gillibrand’s new legislation targets and tests for the pathogens that cause the vast majority of foodborne illnesses and deaths in the United States in order of prevalence: Salmonella spp., Toxoplasma gondii, Campylobacter spp., E. coli 0157:H7, and E. coli non-O157 STEC. The legislation builds on an effort that Gillibrand led last year to add confirmed strains of E. coli to the list of adulterants, require meat companies to test for any batches containing any toxic strains of E. coli, and give the USDA the authority to find and regulate more toxic strains in the future.
“How many more outbreaks will we allow, and how many more lives will we lose, before we wake up and take real action,” said Senator Gillibrand. “We’ve known the hazards of E. coli for years. It’s time we get serious, and keep contaminated food in check before it ever reaches a grocery store shelf or kitchen.”
The proposed legislation addresses E. coli in meat by:
- Requiring plants that produce the cuts and trimmings that make ground beef to test their products regularly before it is ground and again before all the components are ground together.
- Requiring foreign facilities to certify their product has been tested for E. coli to be eligible for importation into the country. The domestic facility receiving the product would be required to verify the results with secondary testing.
- Requiring slaughterhouses, producers, and grinding facilities receiving trimmings to use independent testing facilities operating under annual contracts.
- Sets a threshold of 25,000 lbs of trim per day for compliance implementation to reduce the burden on small producers. Those producers under the threshold have 3 years before they must comply with the new regulation.
- Calls for habitual violators to be listed on a public website. Any slaughterhouse or processing establishment that produces or distributes trim with positive E. coli test results for three consecutive days, or more than 10 times per year, will be deemed a habitual violator. The bill also establishes regulatory action for plants that fail to test or fail to notify the USDA Secretary of positive E. coli results.
Source: Institute of Food Technologists
