July 17, 2009

The USDA is preparing to begin testing a type a beef it never has before in order to try to prevent the deadly E. coli bacteria from reaching consumers of ground beef, a USDA official told a congressional panel Thursday (Jul 16).

 

USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service will soon begin taking samples from "bench trim" - beef that is left over after steaks and other cuts are produced from large chunks of beef - and testing them for E. coli contamination, USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety Jerold Mande said.

 

Mande testified Thursday before the House Agriculture Committee.

 

"Our concern ... is that we can't have E. coli end up in unfinished product," Mande told Dow Jones Newswires after the hearing.

 

For years USDA's food-safety inspectors have concentrated only on ground beef and trim, which is the part of the carcass designated solely for ground beef production. But ground beef is also often produced from non-trim cuts and therefore doesn't get tested by the USDA. And it is those non-trim cuts that bench trim comes from.

 

Mande said the USDA won't likely be ready to begin the new bench-trim testing this month, but officials are working to begin as soon as possible.

 

On June 24 JBS Swift & Co. recalled 41,280 pounds of beef, all of which was "intact cuts of beef" that are "typically used for steaks and roasts rather than ground beef" after at least 18 illnesses were connected to the beef. The recall was expanded four days later to 421,280 pounds.

 

Mande said the USDA is also looking at other ways to improve beef safety but didn't provide details.