Group seeks to reverse slight upward trend in E. Coli in ground beef

Once a major threat to the beef industry, the levels of E. coli O157:H7 in ground beef have been on a historic decline since peaking in the mid-1990s. But E. coli infections have been on an upward trend since 2010, when rates were at 0.95 illnesses per every 100,000 people. In 2013, the rate reached 1.15 illnesses per 100,000, still far below the peak of 2.62 per 100,000 in 1996. The slight uptick was reportedly enough to prompt the creation of a 6-point strategy to reverse the trend, designed by USDA’s Strategic Performance Working Group (SPWG) within the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). Read more at Food Safety News