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USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service has commenced
an enhanced risk-based sampling and testing program for
E. coli O157:H7 in raw ground beef, one of the many programs
it promised to initiate following the Topps Meat Co. recall
last fall.
Under the new protocol, effective Jan. 1, FSIS will take
into account establishment volume and whether the establishment
has had any FSIS or Agriculture Marketing Service positive
results within the past 120 days.
FSIS says inspectors will likely collect a minimum of 4
samples and up to 24 samples annually. The new program is
independent of follow-up testing, which results from an
establishment being implicated in an E. coli O157:H7-positive
production lot.
Topps' recall of nearly 22 million pounds of frozen ground
beef products in early October, one of the largest beef
recalls in U.S. history, followed a rash of recalls in the
summer and forced FSIS to review its oversight procedures.
The agency vowed it would make improvements, announcing
some of its plans shortly thereafter. (See USDA
outlines actions to combat E. coli O157:H7 on Meatingplace.com
, Oct. 24.)
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