October 9, 2007

FSIS to co-host public meeting on E. coli

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is co-hosting a public meeting Oct 17 with several other US food safety agencies to solicit input on the public health significance of various strains of E. coli.

The meeting comes after the largest beef recall in US history, involving 21 million pounds of beef patties manufactured by Topps Co after more than a dozen people were sickened by e.coli contamination from the patties. The 67-year-old company announced Monday it is closing down as it would not be able to bear the cost of the recall.

Besides the FSIS, the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will be present.

The purpose of the meeting is to seek input from academia, consumers, other public health and regulatory agencies and industry on the issue of whether non-O157:H7 STECs should be considered to be adulterants as E. coli O157:H7 is.

The meeting will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the George Mason University, Arlington Campus, 3401 N. Fairfax Drive, Arlington, Va. The campus is located near the Virginia Square Metro Station on Metro's Orange Line for participants attending in person.

Pre-registration for each meeting is encouraged. To register online, go to www.fsis.usda.gov/News_&_Events/meetings_&_events/index.asp, select the appropriate meeting and indicate whether you will be attending onsite at George Mason University or participating by phone.

The agency is accepting comments through Oct. 15. Comments can be submitted to Dr. Denise Eblen by e-mail to Denise.Elben@fsis.usda.gov or by fax at (202) 690-6334.