美国农业部：Working to Finalize Policy on Non-O157

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Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack Wednesday highlighted the need to test meat for non-O157 strains of E. coli bacteria.

Speaking to a group of scientists and industry members at the International Association for Food Protection conference in Milwaukee, Vilsack said the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is prepared to expand its testing program beyond E. coli O157:H7 - the only strain for which it currently screens - to include other Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STECs), which can cause severe illness in humans.

Together, the six most common non-O157 E. coli serotypes, also known as the "Big Six," which include E. coli O26, O45, O103, O111, O121 and O145, account for almost two-thirds of E. coli illnesses in the U.S. each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

In January USDA submitted a draft policy to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) proposing that non-O157 STECs be declared adulterants, and therefore illegal, in meat and poultry.

Thedocumenthas yet to be approved. However, Vilsack says, "[OMB is] actively working with us to move this through the process and finalize a policy that will supported by the best science. And I'm hopeful that we'll be able to announce this progress very very soon."

For food safety advocates, such a decision has been a long time in coming.

"Although I have great respect for Secretary Vilsack, I expected nothing of import from this speech," said leading food poisoning attorney Bill Marler, publisher ofFood Safety News. "I am frankly stunned, but heartened, by his words about pathogenic E. coli. His words need to be turned into action."

In 2009, Marler filed apetitionwith the government asking that all non-O157 STECs be named food adulterants.

Vilsack recognizes that the government has been slow in taking action against non-O157 STECs.