This summer, the U.S. Department of Agriculture proposed that mechanically tenderized beef and beef products injected with marinade or solution be labeled due to food-safety concerns.

On Dec. 13, 2013, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) issued Notice 81-13 to clarify and expand its routine trim sampling programs. Inspection program personnel (IPP) were to implement this notice beginning Jan. 5, 2014, with updating the plant profile so that sampling tasks can be appropriately scheduled.

Costco, in Coon Rapids, Minn., is recalling an undetermined amount of lean fresh ground beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7.

National Beef Packing Co. is recalling approximately 22,737 pounds of raw ground beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7.

Higa Meat & Pork Market, a Honolulu, HI establishment, is recalling approximately 4,100 pounds of ground beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7.

FSIS is announcing a Public Health Alert for raw boneless beef trim products imported from Canada that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7.

Microbiological sampling can be an effective tool to help companies verify that their interventions are working. But how much testing is really expedient given the current food-safety climate?

A history of E. coli O157:H7 as an “adulterant,” and why other EHECs should be “adulterants” too.