Something has changed"
This year's E. coli surge has alarmed and disheartened the industry, says the AMI Foundation's Jim Hodges
(MEATPOULTRY.com, October 12, 2007)
by Steve Bjerklie
Source of Article: http://www.meatnews.com/news/beyond_stories.asp?ArticleID=88770
The causes behind this year's sudden spike in E. coli detections, which has already produced one record-level, company-ruining recall, are still a mystery, according to the head of the American Meat Institute Foundation, a non-profit research, education and information organization founded by and associated with the AMI.
"The prevalence of E. coli in the product itself is not appreciably different this year than last," Jim Hodges, AMIF's president, tells MEAT&POULTRY, pointing to USDA figures that put the incidence of positive E. coli tests in ground beef at 0.19 percent so far this year, compared to 0.17 percent in 2006. "What is different is that we've got more recalls this year. What that says to me is that something has changed. Are we discovering more illness? Is the organism changing? We don't have the answers yet. I think most people are frankly scratching their heads."
Hodges says one noticeable fact is eight of the 14 E. coli recalls so far this year are tied to illness investigations by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta. Last year, none of eight recalls were connected to outbreaks of human illness associated with E. coli. He says it's unclear whether improved illness-detection methods and/or more thorough investigating and reporting by the CDC have anything to do with this year's increased incidence of the pathogen in the beef supply.
"Obviously, we are extremely concerned. That goes without saying," he tells M&P.
Another fact of interest is USDA's Food Service and Inspection Service investigation of September's 21.7 million-pound Topps Meat Co. recall, which is the second-largest meat recall in U.S. history and which has forced Topps, a New Jersey processor, out of business, revealed three distinct DNA patterns in the E. coli recovered from people who consumed the Topps product – and neither FSIS nor CDC had any of these patterns in their databases.
The use of a technique called Pulse Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE) allows scientists and investigators to ascertain the relatedness of the DNA of different E. coli strains found in samples taken from patients, and each of the three PFGE patterns associated with the Topps meat were distinctive and unusual. "This brings up the question: Is the organism changing?" asked Hodges. "We don't know, but it gives us a clue where to start looking." He added: "FSIS is now looking at everything that goes into ground beef, not just the trim."
He points out that industry's attention "was keenly focused on this before the 21 million-pound recall." He and Randy Huffman, AMIF's vice president of scientific affairs, visited CDC in Atlanta, last August, in an effort to gather more information. "We're still in a process of fact-finding at this point," he says.
Hodges says E. coli's roaring comeback in 2007 has not only alarmed the industry, it has been disheartening as well. "We had climbed a pretty good mountain. Incidence rates had dropped significantly. We had a good story to tell," he commented. "But we're going to redouble our efforts to make sure our best-practices and interventions are truly effective, and we're developing better baseline data. The status quo is unacceptable."
:shock: 
