The USDA will begin testing for six new strains of e. coli in beef, the agency announced Wednesday, May 29. Previously, the agency required testing only for the O157 strain.
The new testing measures will target e. coli O26, O45, O103, O111, O121, and O145, which are believed to account for 80% of non-O157 E coli illnesses infections.
Meat companies, which has been in longstanding opposition to the new standards, have begun to change their tack.
"We are prepared for USDA to collect whatever samples they wish to collect for non-O157 STEC sampling at our beef harvesting (slaughter) facilities starting June 4," Cargill Inc.Spokesman Michael Martin wrote in an email to msnbc.com.
The CDC estimated non-O157 E coli strains cause 112,000 illnesses per annum. Roughly 36,700 of those are thought to be related to beef, USDA officials said when they announced the testing program in September.
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