This month’s Journal of Food Protection (Volume 68, Number 8, Page 1566-1574) reports that currently, several beef processors employ test-and-hold systems for increased quality control of ground beef.
In such programs, each lot of product must be tested and found negative for Escherichia coli O157:H7 prior to release of the product into commerce. Optimization of three testing attributes (detection time, specificity, and sensitivity) is critical to the success of such strategies.
Because ground beef is a highly perishable product, the testing methodology used must be as rapid as possible. The test also must have a low false-positive result rate so product is not needlessly discarded. False-negative results cannot be tolerated because they would allow contaminated product to be released and potentially cause disease.
In a study published in the Journal of Food Protection, two culture-based and three PCR-based methods for detecting E. coli O157:H7 in ground beef were compared for their abilities to meet the above criteria.
Ground beef samples were individually spiked with five genetically distinct strains of E. coli O157: H7 and then subjected to the various testing methodologies. There was no difference in the abilities of the PCR-based methods to detect E. coli O157:H7. The culture-based systems detected more positive samples than did the PCR-based systems, but the detection times were at least nine hours longer than those for the PCR-based methods.
Ground beef samples were also spiked with potentially cross-reactive strains. The PCR-based systems that employed an immunomagnetic separation step prior to detection produced fewer false-positive results.
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What is E. coli and how does it cause food poisoning? Escherichia coli (E. coli) is a highly studied, common species of bacteria that belongs to the family Enterobacteriaceae, so...
E. coli O157:H7
E. coli O157:H7 is a foodborne pathogen that causes food poisoning. E. coli O157:H7 is the most commonly identified and the most notorious Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) serotype in...
Non-O157 STEC
Non-O157 Shiga Toxin-Producing E. coli can also cause food poisoning. E. coli O157:H7 may be the most notorious serotype of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC), but there are at least...
Sources of E. coli
Where do E. coli O157:H7 and non-O157 Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) come from? The primary reservoirs, or ultimate sources, of E. coli O157:H7 and non-O157 STEC in nature are...
Transmission of and Infection with E. coli
While many dairy cattle-associated foodborne disease outbreaks are linked to raw milk and other raw dairy products (e.g., cheeses, butter, ice cream), dairy cattle still represent a source of contamination...
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