Healthy People 2010 goal for E. coli illness reduction achieved six years ahead of schedule

Beef Checkoff Program Affirms E. coli Reduction Pledge, Continue to Implement Best Practices

DENVER (April 15, 2005) – The overall incidence of foodborne illness attributed to E. coli declined significantly again in 2004, meeting the United States’ Healthy People 2010 goal five years ahead of schedule, according to a report issued today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Leaders in the beef industry welcomed the news and affirmed their pledge to continue work toward further decline of all pathogens.

Working in collaboration with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Department of Agriculture (USDA), the CDC found that the overall incidence of E. coli O157:H7 cases has declined 42 percent since the baseline of 1996-1998.

This news comes less than two months after the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced that the percentage of E. coli O157:H7 positive ground beef samples collected in 2004 fell by 43.3 percent when compared to 2003 and has declined 80 percent since 2000.

“The beef industry has made tremendous strides to lower the incidence of E. coli.  We are currently at the lowest incidence rate since 1999, when the testing method was changed to a more sensitive and accurate analytical process,” said Roger West, Research & Knowledge Management Group chairman and Florida beef producer. “While we still have a lot of work to do, it’s promising to see these figures and know we’re moving in the right direction.  I have no doubt that some of this success can be attributed to ongoing research and interventions as well as best practice implementation throughout the industry. The beef industry continues our commitment to reduction of all pathogens.”

The Beef Industry Food Safety Council (BIFSCo) – funded by beef producers with checkoff dollars – has been working toward compiling best practices from across the beef industry, which includes sharing strategies among competitors. The program is coordinated on behalf of the Cattlemen's Beef Board and state beef councils by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA). The NCBA serves as one of the Beef Board's contractors for checkoff-funded programs.   

Since the E. coli Summit in January 2003, all sectors of the beef industry have been working toward the goal of improving safety – from cow-calf producers and feedlot operators, to packers and processors, to retailers and foodservice providers.

“Two years ago, America’s beef producers set the goal of reducing and eventually eliminating E. coli O157:H7 and today we remain committed to that goal and continue to work hard to achieve it,” said James O. Reagan, Ph.D., chairman, BIFSCo Steering Committee and vice president of research and knowledge management, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. “Since 1993, through the beef checkoff program, beef producers have invested more than $20 million in beef safety research and development of methods to control, test for, and sample E. coli O157.  This research is in addition to a significant commitment to processing plant improvements and interventions.”

Checkoff funded research continues to show promise for interventions such as thermal pasteurization, feed additives and animal and carcass washes that eliminate or reduce pathogen presence. Specific direct-fed microbials, such as probiotics have been proven to reduce E. coli prevalence.  For example, a recent beef checkoff-funded study found that cattle fed probiotics had 71 percent less E. coli O157:H7 presence than the control group.

BIFSCo offers a resource guide that has been distributed to beef producers.  While several promising interventions require more research, the guide specifically defines several best management practices that work toward one of the industry’s fundamental goals of ensuring animal health and providing a safe product for consumers. The guide includes best practices for maintaining clean feed, water and environment and checkoff-funded research findings on intervention options for reducing prevalence of the pathogen in livestock.

Funded by beef producers with checkoff dollars, BIFSCo brings together representatives from all sectors of the beef industry – including cow/calf producers, feedlot operators, packers, processors, retailers and foodservice operators – to battle the industry’s most complex food safety issues together. 

BIFSCo best practices are available at www.bifsco.org.  These are living documents that will be updated and reviewed as scientific and technological advances are made.