The U.S. Department of Agriculture said today that six uncommon strains of E. coli will be banned from ground beef due to risks of illness. Consumer groups are hailing the move as the biggest advance in meat safety in years.
But meat processors warn it will cost consumers more money, and say the scientific evidence doesn't justify the new expense.
The new rule will require USDA meat inspectors to conduct new E.coli testing that the agency says will make it easier to prevent infected meat from reaching the market, and will make it easier for the agency to pull products from the market if they are found to be tainted.
"It's an effort to protect consumers from the threats as we define them in 2011," USDA food safety chief Elisabeth Hagen tells Shots.
Regulators already require testing for the most common and deadly strain of E. coli - 0157:H7. The new rule requires testing ground beef for six other, less common strains of E. coli thought responsible for thousands of foodborne illnesses. The strains are 026, 0111, 045, 0145, 0121 and 0103, Hagen says.
The strain that recently caused thousands of illnesses in Germany, E. coli 0104:H4, is notably absent from the list, but USDA is considering adding it in the future, Hagen says. The German outbreak was tied to sprouts.
"This is a big win for consumers. In the wake of many recent food recalls caused by E. coli contamination, it is critical that we take the necessary steps to protect the health and well being of all consumers," says Ami Gadhia, senior policy counsel for Consumers Union.
But the American Meat Institute says the new program is likely to cost millions of dollars and has only been tied to beef in a single outbreak responsible for three illnesses. AMI Executive Vice President James H. Hodges told the New York Times:
"It's just not supported by the science."The government argues that it is. Since 1994, the government's required meat processors to test for E. coli 0157:H7. And the number of illnesses from that strain have gone down, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The six new strains are very virulent, Hagen says.
The new rule is "a really significant incentive for companies to take a number of steps to keep those [tainted] products out of commerce," Hagen says.
But some large meat purveyors like Costco didn't even wait for the government action. They are already requiring suppliers to test for these strains.
The USDA effort has been in the works for at least four years, and has been in regulatory limbo at the president's budget office since at least January.
They made some tweaks, Hagen says, but in the end, the USDA's basic policy to declare these six strains as "adulterants" prevailed. The rule is expected to be posted later today.
The new testing program will take effect in March for beef trim - the meat product used to make ground beef. The six-month delay will give the industry and E. coli test kit makers time to prepare, Hagen says.
There are hundreds of producers of what is purported by them to be colloidal silver when in fact they all produce what is in large measure, 90% or better, an ionic solution of positively charged silver ions that instantly precipitate to ineffective silver chloride when mixed into, say, chlorinated or salty water such the blood stream, or with the hydrochloric acid found in human stomach.
What little silver particulate then remains is typically of relatively large size, 5 to 500 nanometers, consequently low surface area per unit volume of water and therefore of low effectiveness. Even so, due to silver's remarkable anti-microbial properties, such low quality products do produce some benefit. Hence, silver's very long standing reputation.
There is however one company, one in the world, that does produce a true colloid that is 80% sub-nanometer silver particulate, 20% ionic content and uses better than pharmaceutical grade water as the suspension medium.
97% of the silver particles are between 300 and 1000 picometers in size and note for interest that a single carbon atom is approx 300 pm in size. These are particles so small they are at what might be considered the "edge" of what can exist as what we think of as physical matter.
An assay of the particle size of this colloidal silver is available at this www.purestcolloids.com/MesosilverHPPS.pdf and a material safety data sheet (MSDS) is available at this [Link].
This colloidal silver is unconditionally stable except against strong acids and freezing to solid ice. It is not sensitive to light, does not need refrigeration and will stand on the shelf for years on end.
Numerous bacteriological studies have been conducted using this excellent product that show its in vitro absolute effectiveness against such as E. Coli 0157:H7 and the antibiotic resistant strains of Staph A such as MRSA and VRSA, two of the "hospital diseases."
Ten bacteriology study results produced by EMSL Analytical [Link] one of the largest such laboratories in the US, with 33 lab locations nationwide [Link] are available at this [Link] .
Note that it was a variant of E. Coli 0157:H7 that was responsible for the outbreaks in Germany earlier this year.
This product, MesoSilver, is produced by Purest Colloids whose website is seen at this [Link]and is available in Europe thru Crystal Colloidaal seen at this [Link] .
It is distributed in Canada by Mesocolloids Canada whose website is seen at this [Link].
Purest Colloids has authored the "Silver Colloids" site where one can read miles of "Scientific Information on Colloidal Silver" at this [Link].
They have also produced the "Colloidal Science Laboratory, Inc." website where they detail the equipment and just a few of the many procedures involved in "Determining the Properties of Metal Colloids." the site is seen at this [Link] .