Skip to main content
ARS Home » Northeast Area » Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania » Eastern Regional Research Center » Food Safety and Intervention Technologies Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #290392
Title: Distribution and detection of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) during an industrial grinding process of beef trim

Author
item PHEBUS, RANDALL - Kansas State University
item Luchansky, John
item Porto-Fett, Anna
item THIPPAREDDI, HARSHAVARDHAN - University Of Nebraska
item SINGH, MANPREET - Auburn University
item SULLIVAN, RACHEL - Kansas State University
item HETTENBACH, SUSAN - Kansas State University
item WOLF, JOHN - Kansas State University
item PADDOCK, CASEY - Kansas State University
item BAUMANN, NICHOLAS - Kansas State University
item SEVART, NICHOLAS - Kansas State University
item MINTO, MICHAEL - Kansas State University
item HARPER, NIGEL - Kansas State University
item SENECAL, ANDRE - Natick Soldier Center

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/28/2013
Publication Date: 7/28/2013
Citation: Phebus, R.K., Luchansky, J.B., Porto Fett, A.C., Thippareddi, H., Singh, M., Sullivan, R.R., Hettenbach, S., Wolf, J., Paddock, C., Baumann, N., Sevart, N., Minto, M., Harper, N., Senecal, A. 2013. Distribution and detection of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) during an industrial grinding process of beef trim. Meeting Abstract.IAFP Annual Meeting, Charlotte, North Carolina, July 28-31, 2013., 76:82 (P1-44).

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: During the grinding and packaging processes, it is important to understand how Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) would be distributed and how well it could be detected in beef trim. This study is important because it shows what would happen if contaminated meat is allowed into a commercial beef grinding process and the limits of detection. STEC was surface inoculated onto a 908-g piece of beef trim (4.1, 1.0, and 0.5 log cfu/g for replications 1, 2, and 3, respectively) and was then processed with approximately 1,650 kg of beef trim. The manufacturing line was configured in a loop so that the meat was ground (first grind), sent to the blender to mix, ground again (second grind), and finally packaged using a VEMAG chub packager. Samples were enriched from the first grind and the second grind and STEC presence was determined using PCR. All samples for rep 1 were positive for STEC for both the first and second grinds. For rep 2, nearly all samples were positive during the first grind until after 772 kg were processed. However, the second grind of rep 2 was positive for the first 136 kg and negative for almost all samples after. Only five of the 27 samples were negative for the first grind of rep 3. All samples were positive for STEC after the second grind. It is obvious that when the STEC concentration was greater for rep 1, the contamination was high enough to be distributed throughout the process. This study shows that even at low levels of STEC contamination, the bacterium is still found throughout the process. This also shows that STEC can be effectively detected using PCR following enrichment.