Last night the American Meat Institute (AMI) released a statement on the safety of beef. You can read the statement here.
AMI makes great points that improving prevention protocols will do more to eliminate E. coli than adding more inspection steps with more regulations. AMI said that the pathogenic bacteria respond to science-based interventions not regulations. AMI also points out that the existing post harvest and pre-harvest / harvest interface interventions are reducing the risk and making beef safer. At VeriPrime, we agree the beef processing industry has made great progress.
As cattlemen, we also believe that working with AMI’s members we can introduce intervention hurdles at the source, inside cattle, with the goal of eliminating E. coli before it even reaches the back door of the processor. Preharvest intervention hurdles will improve the effectiveness of the interventions that AMI members are already doing to improve beef safety.
