See the story in Food Safety News here. 

In this document FSIS recommends that slaughter establishment receive cattle from beef producers that implemented one or more documented pre-harvest management practices.

The details of the pre-harvest interventions USDA-FSIS documents are absolutely in conformance with the pre-harvest interventions that VeriPrime cattlemen have been suggesting to processors. USDA-FSIS has been largely silent on the issue of pre-harvest control of E. coli until now. We commend them for creating the guidance document and for beginning to address managing E. coli issue at its source.

VeriPrime beef producers are looking forward to working with processors as they implement the new guidance from USDA-FSIS.

You can read an abstract of the study here.

One thing I am sure about is that consumers want to know how we produce meat, milk, and eggs and those producers that decide to be more transparent will have an edge in the marketplace.  VeriPrime’s member cattlemen are proud of what they do and how they do it and are increasing transparency by offering tracking information to grocers and restaurants.

In Doug Powell’s blog he writes about transparency and we agree with his assessment that words are not enough. He talks about the ASDA webcams that are broadcast on the internet of a Bangladesh clothing factory to show concerned customers the conditions in the plant. They also have a “Carrot Cam” and a “Cow Cam” that broadcast live for anyone to see. ASDA is the second largest grocer in the UK and a division of Wal Mart.

The tracking demonstration on the VeriPrime webpage demonstrates the kind of transparency we are offering grocers today. Ask them if they are offering it and If your grocer is telling you that they don’t need to work with VeriPrime because they already have high standards tell them to prove it.

Recently published research supports the use of preharvest interventions for E. coli. The researchers found a strong correlation between the strains in and on cattle that enter the processing plant and the strains that contaminated carcasses inside the plant. The conclusion reached by the team was to provide additional evidence that preharvest interventions that reduce E. coli will work to reduce contamination of beef.

This peer-reviewed study by a group of researchers at Kansas State University published in the scientific journal Foodborne Pathogens and Disease. You can read it here.

If this year is like recent years over the next weeks and months, you will see a number of recalls for E. coli adulterated beef in the news. There will be news specials and finger pointing. However, the dialogue during the recall will undoubtedly be full of hyperbole and offer very little thoughtful discussion of how to fix the problem.

So before the next big news story we would like to take this opportunity to talk to you about what we as cattlemen and animal health professionals think about how we can work together to eliminate E. coli from beef and ultimately the food supply.

On our website, we have outlined five common sense steps.

1. Keep doing the things that are working today to keep beef safe.

The USDA, packers, processors, and retailers have all implemented multiple interventions to prevent beef from being contaminated, kill any bacteria that do contaminate beef, and find any bugs that get by these firewalls. They also spend allot of money to make sure you know how to cook ground beef to an internal temperature of 160 degrees and to use a tip sensitive meat thermometer.

The truth is that most of the time these interventions work pretty well. However, at certain times of the year the system is overwhelmed. The fact that there is a seasonal increase in E. coli tells you that we need to do something before the cattle get to the plant. There simply are not seasons inside a processing plant. That leads us to the next step.

2. Start working on eliminating E. coli from cattle

Now that we have proven tools that address E. coli directly, we can apply these proven interventions in cattle along with the adjunct therapies that have been well documented. More pre harvest interventions are in the development pipeline that will give us more choices in the future. There are also new interventions available for use at the pre harvest / harvest interface that show promise.

Now we can immunize calves with a USDA licensed vaccine that it held to a much higher standard than previous vaccines.  When the vaccine was under review by USDA it delayed approval and required a much higher standard of efficacy than it had required of any other vaccines. Because of the work USDA did we can have great confidence that the immunization program will be safe and effective.

3. Transparency and coordination from the pasture to the plate

The VeriPrime Food Safety Cooperative represents the first organization that was created with the express purpose of coordinating food safety protocols by and for cattlemen. A large majority of the fed cattle supply have said yes to working together with the goal of eliminating E. coli from beef.

Since you cannot manage what you cannot trace the members have created a tracking system and are making that data available to you via internet or cell phone. We believe in transparency.

4.Implement principle centered animal health and welfare that not only makes beef safer but also improve tenderness and flavor.

Healthy happy cattle make better tasting more tender beef. Some of the same things that make cattle healthy and happy also help eliminate E. coli and other pathogens.

A few of the things that we do are; make sure our cattle are fed a natural microbial that helps improve digestive health,  assure that calves are immunized against respiratory diseases, and  use an objective and measurable animal welfare and handling audit.

5. Build Consumer  Awareness And Demand

You are the most important part of this process.

Only you have the power to hold us accountable and make sure your grocer or restaurant serves you beef that was raised and handled in a way you can feel good about. Ask your grocer or favorite restaurant to serve you beef that was raised responsibly by VeriPrime producers.

Dr Richard Raymond writes about a bill that Sen. John Tester of Montana introduced and the real life implications it will have to improve beef safety. He cites an example from when he was undersecretary for food safety at the United States Department of Agriculture.

Dr. David Acheson was the Associate Commissioner of Foods at FDA, which is the leadership position within FDA for all things food. He writes in his blog that traceability is a food safety issue. Unbelievably there have been people that actually argued that traceability was not a food safety issue.

Dr Acheson gives three reasons why he believes traceability is a food safety concern.

Our CEO says it in one sentence, “You can’t manage what you can’t find. “

That pretty much sums up why traceability and transparency are a cornerstone of the VeriPrime Food Safety Cooperative.