Meat Processors Struggle to Keep Ground Beef Safe
Over the last ten years, Tyson Fresh Meats has transformed its slaughterhouse to combat a potentially deadly type of food poisoning, adding huge chambers to scald carcasses and wash them in acid, steam vacuums to suck away microbes, and elaborate laboratory testing of hundreds of meat samples a day.
The beef industry recently stated that they spend over $350 million a year to keep harmful pathogens out of the meat it sells to the public. But even as spending on safety keeps rising, the industry appears to be losing ground.
In November the Agriculture Department announced its 20th recall of beef this year because of contamination with a toxic strain of E. coli.
No one knows for sure what is causing so many recalls, but theories range from the cyclical nature of pathogens to changes in cattle-feeding practices.
Fifteen years after an E. coli outbreak at Jack in the Box restaurants made people aware that hamburgers could kill them, the American beef industry is still searching for a practical method to prevent E. coli from contaminating ground beef.
What makes this year's increase in the amount of recalls so surprising is that it comes after several years in which the number of recalls dropped sharply, to eight in 2006 and five in 2005.
The Agriculture Department recently issued new guidelines urging the meat industry to adopt the latest technology to combat harmful forms of E. coli, but department officials acknowledge that short of irradiating the meat, there is no 100% safe proof method.
The federal government says it believes that exposing meat to radiation is a safe and effective way to kill E. coli and other pathogens. Meat companies have been hesitant to use radiation because of fears that it would make meat more expensive, change the taste and color, and provoke consumer opposition.
It is difficult to say whether the amount of E. coli in ground beef has increased this year, since the number of recalls is an imperfect measure.
As part of its efforts to eradicate E. coli, the meat industry is experimenting with vaccines, antibiotics, and feed additives that may reduce the level of E. coli 0157:H7 in cattle intestines. But so far, those are not commercially available.
Reference:
"Meat Processors Look for Ways to Keep Ground Beef Safe," nytimes.com, Andrew Martin, December 2007.
