USDA FSIS to Expand STEC Testing to Additional Raw Beef Products
The U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA FSIS) has announced plans to expand its routine verification testing for six Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) (non-O157 STEC; O26, O45, O103, O111, O121, or O145) as well as O157:H7.
The expanded testing will be applied to ground beef, bench trim, and raw ground beef components other than raw beef manufacturing trimmings (ie. head meat, cheek meat, weasand (esophagus) meat, product from advanced meat recovery (AMR) systems, partially defatted chopped beef and partially defatted beef fatty tissue, low temperature rendered lean finely textured beef, and heart meat) for samples collected at official establishments.