The auditing office at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is recommending that the agency close certain gaps in its pathogenic Escherhia coli testing program, mainly relating to intact cuts of meat that end up being ground into hamburger or mechanically tenderized.
In a report released Mar 28, the USDA Office of Inspector General (OIG) said it found that cuts of meat that are intended to be sold intact are sometimes used by "downstream processors" to make ground beef instead. Such "boxed beef" shipped from slaughterhouses to other processors includes cuts like chuck, round, or sirloin steaks. When intact cuts are not intended for grinding, they are not subject to USDA E coli testing, the report explains.
Any E coli contamination on intact cuts of meat would normally be on the surface and would be destroyed by cooking, the 46-page report notes. But if the meat is ground up, the contamination is mixed in and might survive cooking if the internal temperature of the meat doesn't get high enough. Some processors grind up intact cuts without first testing it for E coli, the report says.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: University of Minnesota Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy