AMSA RMC logoThe American Meat Science Association (AMSA) is pleased to announce that, Dr. Terrance Arthur, USDA/ARS U.S. Meat Animal Research Center; Dr. Vanessa Sperandio, UT Southwestern Medical Center and Dr. James Wells, USDA/ARS U.S. Meat Animal Research Center will be the featured speakers in theAMSA 67th Reciprocal Meat Conference (RMC) Food Safety Symposium sponsored by Corbion Purac, on Monday, June 16th. The beef industry continues to be challenged with control of pathogens in beef products.  This session will feature innovative research that increases understanding of how pathogenic E. coli survive and flourish in the bovine digestive system.

Dr. Terrance Arthur will focus on High Event Periods - sporadic peaks in contamination rates where multiple E. coli O157:H7-positive lots are clustered in a short time frame.  His research group determined that individual High Event Periodsshow little to no diversity of strain genotype.  Each High Event Periodhas one strain type that makes up most if not all of the contamination.  This differs from the genotypic diversity of E. coli O157:H7 found on the hides of cattle entering processing plants. 

Dr. Vanessa Sperandio will address the subject of SdiA Chemical Sensing in Enterohemorrhagic E. coliColonization of Cattle. The talk will focus on technical aspects of the attachment and action of EHEC in the recto anal junction of cattle. The roles of enterocyte effacement genes and the glutamate acid resistance system in EHEC survival and colonization will also be explored.

Dr. Jim Wells will wrap up the session with a presentation on the Fecal Microbiome in the Bovine Animal. In recent years, human medical research has uncovered an association between gastrointestinal microbes and host immune function, health, and well-being. Microbes can also competitively exclude other bacteria, including pathogens, from a niche.  Dr. Wells will explain how current research with cattle using next-generation sequencing is determining how diet can alter the fecal bacteria, and how specific types or groups of bacteria in feces associate with E. coli O157:H7 shedding and animal performance.    

The AMSA 67th Reciprocal Meat Conference (RMC) will be held June 15-18, 2014, at University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI.  For more information regarding the AMSA 67th RMC please visit: http://www.meatscience.org/rmcor contact Deidrea Mabry 1-800-517-AMSA ext. 12.

Source: AMSA