Meat + Poultry - February 2016 - 54

FOOD SAFETY

CDC: SALMONELLA A GROWING
THREAT IN GROUND BEEF
The number of foodborne illness outbreaks attributed to Salmonella
in undercooked ground beef has increased, according to the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Hannah Gould, Ph.D.,
an epidemiologist who previously worked in the CDC's Division of
Foodborne, Waterborne and Environmental Diseases, says ground
beef is the fourth most common cause of Salmonella outbreaks.
"Adequate cooking should kill Salmonella just like adequate
cooking should kill E. coli O157:H7," Gould says. "But a problem
with Salmonella is that many of these outbreaks involve multi-drug
resistant strains. That is concerning because those infections tend to
be more severe and harder to treat."
Salmonella is estimated to be the most common bacterial cause
of foodborne illness in the US, leading to an estimated 1 million
foodborne illnesses annually, according to the CDC.
In its study, "Outbreaks of Salmonella infections attributed to beef
- United States, 1973-2011," the CDC reports that of the 1,965
outbreaks of Salmonella between 1973 and 2011 where a food
vehicle was implicated, 96 were attributed to beef and accounted for
3,684 illnesses. The CDC notes that during this time there was also
a shift in the type of beef implicated in Salmonella from roast to
ground beef.
Ground beef emerged as an important vehicle in the 2000s and was
implicated in 17 (45 percent) of the 38 beef attributed outbreaks
reported during 2002-2011, the CDC reported. Although the
emergence was likely due in part to increased participation in CDC's
PulseNet and proactive decisions by the US Dept. of Agriculture's
Food Safety and Inspection Service, stronger measures are needed
to decrease contamination of ground beef with Salmonella, the CDC
concluded.
An issue with Salmonella is it isn't listed as an adulterant like E. coli
O157:H7 is in ground beef, Gould said.
"We're certainly seeing more outbreaks [in ground beef] and I think
it's a problem. I think if [Salmonella] was labeled as an adulterant
there would be more of an emphasis to remove it from the food
supply, and we would see fewer outbreaks linked to it," Gould noted.

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MEAT+ POULTRY | 02.16 | www.meatpoultry.com

But restaurants aren't required legally to
not offer undercooked burgers. The Food
and Drug Administration's (FDA) Food Code
only recommends that licensed foodservice
establishments cook ground beef to 155˚ F to
kill foodborne pathogens such as E. coli.
About four years ago, Jay Wenther, then
the executive director of the American
Association of Meat Processors, addressed
the Conference on Food Protection (CFP),
a food safety organization consisting of
industry representatives, government

"I think a lot of people think
[the E. coli problem] is fixed
or is no longer a big issue,
and they don't worry about
it." - DAVID THENO
regulators, university professors and consumer
organizations, to try to get the CFP to amend
the Food Code by not allowing restaurants to
serve undercooked ground beef to consumers,
even if a consumer ordered a rare hamburger.
The change would have required restaurants to
cook ground beef to at least 160˚ F to eliminate
the chance of E. coli. But the CFP declined,
citing a mandated cooking standard for ground
beef would deter the meat industry from
controlling E. coli at the processing plant. One
CFP member said mandating cooking would
also be "another infringement" on consumers.
David Crownover, product manager for
the National Restaurant Association's (NRA)
ServSafe team, says the organization advises
its members to follow the Food Code, but does
not recommend to restaurants on its own that
they should cook ground beef to 155˚ F.
"Ultimately, the decision is up to the
consumer to make," Crownover says.
Changing the Food Code to require
restaurants to cook hamburgers to 155˚ F isn't
so simple, Crownover states.
"You start running down a slippery slope"
because cooking temperatures would also have to
be taken into consideration for other foods, such
as steak tartare, rare fish and raw oysters, he says.
Another way to address the issue is for
restaurants to adopt their own policies to not
serve undercooked hamburgers, which the
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