USDA lab focuses on deadly E. Coli

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Jan 26, 3:46 AM EST

USDA lab focuses on deadly E. Coli

By JOSH FUNK

AP Business Writer

CLAY CENTER, Neb. (AP) -- Cattle wander among earth-covered bunkers that

dot the landscape just west of this tiny rural town. The bunkers are

remnants of a Naval ammunition depot that produced bombs during World War

II. The depot is now an animal research center where government

scientists are working to unlock secrets contained in the genetic makeup

of the cattle.

Their focus: the E. coli 0157:H7 bacteria, which can kill if it reaches

the dinner table.

" Our purpose is to save little kids' lives, " said Mohammad

Koohmaraie, director of the center.

The scientists at the Roman L. Hruska U.S. Meat Animal Research Center

say they still don't know why the number of beef recalls soared in 2007

or why E. coli contamination appeared to be rising.

" What we try to do is increase our understanding as much as possible

about the bug, " Koohmaraie said.

The lab has its own feedlot and a herd of about 6,500 cows that are used

for genetic research.

In 2007, more than 30 million pounds of ground beef were pulled off the

market in 20 recalls because of possible E. coli contamination. That

included the second-largest recall in U.S. history, which put Topps Meat

Co. out of business.

At least 67 sicknesses were linked to last year's beef recalls. No deaths

were reported. In 2006, there were just eight beef recalls and no

reported illnesses.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that E.

coli sickens about 73,000 people and kills 61 each year in the United

States. Most of the deaths are people with weak immune systems such as

the elderly or very young.

The bacteria was discovered in the late 1970s and is present in the

intestines of most cattle. It also can be found in deer, goats and sheep.

It doesn't cause problems for the livestock, but the E. coli 0157:H7

variant can cause severe illness in humans.

Symptoms of E. coli infection include stomach cramps and diarrhea that

may turn bloody within one to three days.

The large scope of the research being conducted at the Meat Animal

Research Center sets its work apart from research at universities and

other labs in the USDA's Agricultural Research Service.

" The uniqueness of what we do is in the sample size, "

Koohmaraie said. " We really don't speak unless we have confidence in

the data. A bug like E. coli 0157:h7 is really problematic if you don't

design the experiment properly. "

One of the lab's current projects will test whether feeding cattle

distiller's grain - a byproduct of making the gasoline additive ethanol -

has any effect on the level of E. coli and the quality of meat

produced.

The Nebraska Corn Board suggested the distiller's grain research last

spring, and the lab agreed because more and more feedlots are using the

ethanol byproduct, Koohmaraie said.

The research involves 600 cattle. Half are being fed a traditional grain

feed and half are being fed distiller's grain. The research will wrap up

in June after the cattle have been sold for slaughter and samples of

their carcasses have been collected.

Smaller studies already suggest a link between distillers grain and high

levels of the bacteria. For instance, researchers at Kansas State

University said last fall they found that cattle fed distiller's grain

are twice as likely to carry E. coli 0157:H7.

The meat industry significantly increased its efforts to control E. coli

after the 1993 outbreak in which four children died and hundreds of

people became ill after eating undercooked hamburgers from Jack in the

Box restaurants.

The Clay Center lab, which is about 120 miles southwest of Omaha, didn't

really have much of a food safety research program until the Jack in the

Box outbreak, Koohmaraie said. After that, Congress and the USDA made it

a priority to learn more about E. coli and other pathogens.

A great deal of research had already been done on E. coli by then, but

the Clay Center lab made an important discovery: E. coli was getting into

meat processing plants on the hides of cattle as well as inside the

animals' intestines.

That work contributed to the development of systems to wash the hides of

cattle and the carcasses with either hot water or chemical solutions as

they enter the processing plants.

The lab determined which solutions work best and how washing systems

should be designed.

Warren Mirtsching, who oversees food safety for JBS Swift & Co, said

the lab showed how valuable a hide washing system can be and that meat

packing plants didn't have to spend millions to install an effective

system.

" I think they perform a very special niche, " Mirtsching said.

" They are the validator. "

Don Neeper

Senior Software Engineer

SofTechnics, a METTLER TOLEDO Company

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