November 13, 2009
 

US representative faults beef e.coli tests, wants investigation

Federal meat inspectors and the meat-producing industry aren't doing a good enough job keeping the deadly E. coli bacteria out of the beef supply, and the common "N-60" testing protocol is likely to blame, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., said Thursday (November 12).

"I am troubled by the shortcomings of the N-60 test ... and that is why I am requesting an investigation into the scientific merits of this beef-testing protocol," DeLauro said.

James Hodges, executive vice president of the American Meat Institute, said the AMI doesn't oppose an investigation, but he stressed the testing method is sound. He called the testing method "a scientifically recognized statistical sampling method that is widely used in the industry to test for the presence of pathogens in meat products."

Despite frequent testing, contaminated beef is still making its way onto the market and people are getting sick, DeLauro said in a letter asking the US Department of Agriculture's inspector general to investigate the effectiveness of the test.

DeLauro highlighted 545,699 pounds of ground beef recently recalled by the New York company Fairbank Farms. Sixteen people have been hospitalized and two have died after eating E. coli-contaminated ground beef linked to the recall, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

DeLauro, chairwoman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, said that even though Fairbank Farms "samples product every 10 to 20 minutes to check for contamination ... it was not enough to prevent contamination."

But consumer confidence is "of utmost importance to the industry," Hodges said, and AMI believes in the N-60 testing protocol.

"No sampling program can provide a 100 percent guarantee that a product is pathogen free, but we have full confidence in the statistical basis on which the programme was developed," he said.