U.S. sets new ground beef procedures to stop E. coli outbreaks

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U.S. sets new ground beef procedures to stop E. coli outbreaks

By Ros Krasny WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Wednesday announced new procedures for detecting and removing unsafe ground beef from grocery stores and suppliers as part of efforts to prevent potentially deadly illnesses caused by contaminated meat. The move "will allow the agency to trace contaminated ground beef back to its source more quickly, remove it from commerce, and find the root cause of the incident to prevent it from recurring," said USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). Under its new procedures, FSIS will conduct immediate investigations of businesses whose ground beef tests positive for E. coli O157:H7 during initial testing, and at suppliers that provided source materials. In the past, FSIS began investigations at the grinding facility only after a presumptive positive test result was confirmed, which can take two days.

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