Food Safety News has an insightful article that touches on something many consumers are not aware of- that there are different strains of ecoli, and different rules on the books to deal with it:
The identified strain in the ongoing outbreak and recall is E. coli O26, which can cause bloody diarrhea, dehydration, and, in severe cases, kidney failure.AOL asks if ground beef will ever get safer:
The recall is considered "Class I," which means the the government has determined "there is a reasonable probability that the use of the product will cause serious, adverse health consequences or death."
Food safety advocates and lawmakers have been pressing the USDA to regulate E. coli O26 and several other disease-causing strains of E. coli.
"It took a massive outbreak in 1993 for the USDA and beef industry to accept E. coli O157:H7 as an 'adulterant,' which means that it is actively tested for in our food supply. Its presence in beef halts distribution and triggers a recall," said Bill Marler, a Seattle-based food safety attorney and advocate, in a widely-distributed press release. "The USDA and beef industry know well that there are at least six additional strains of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli: O45, O111, O121, O145, O103 and O26 that are highly dangerous to humans and should not exist in food."
Some suppliers have announced more rigid supervision of plant floors and more frequent testing, as well as improvements to employee training in an effort to minimize, as much as possible, inevitable human errors that can quickly lead to widespread contamination.Not that these recalls have hampered the beef industry in the slightest- the US Cattle Industry has seen a continuous steady increase in profit- dipping only slightly during the peak of the recession. And Americans will certainly not be giving up hamburgers any time soon.
Retail outlets, including Walmart and Costco, have also recently instituted their own regulations that require more scrupulous standards for the ground beef they'll agree to sell.
