Salmonella Prevalence in Bovine Lymph Nodes Differs among Feedyards

Lymphatic tissue, specifically lymph nodes, is commonly incorporated into ground beef products as a component of lean trimmings. Salmonella and other pathogenic bacteria have been identified in bovine lymph nodes, which may impact compliance with the Salmonella performance standards for ground beef established by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Although Salmonella prevalence has been examined among lymph nodes between animals, no data are currently available regarding feedyard origin of the cattle and Salmonella prevalence. Bovine lymph nodes (279 superficial cervical plus 28 iliofemoral = 307) were collected from beef carcasses at a commercial beef harvest and processing plant over a 3-month period and examined for the prevalence of Salmonella. Cattle processed were from seven feedyards (A through G). Salmonella prevalence was exceptionally low (0% of samples were positive ) in cattle from feedyard A and high (88.2%) in cattle from feedyard B. Prevalence in the remaining feedyards ranged widely: 40.0% in feedyard C, 4.0% in feedyard D, 24.0% in feedyard E, 42.9% in feedyard F, and 40.0% in feedyard G. These data indicate the range of differences in Salmonella prevalence among feedyards. Such information may be useful for developing interventions to reduce or eliminate Salmonella from bovine lymph nodes, which would assist in the reduction of Salmonella in ground beef.

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Burger Preparation: What Consumers Say and Do in the Home

Journal of Food Protection ◽

10.4315/0362-028x.jfp-10-417 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 74 (10) ◽

pp. 1708-1716 ◽

Cited By ~ 50

Author(s):

HO S. PHANG ◽

CHRISTINE M. BRUHN

Keyword(s):

Food Safety ◽

Pathogenic Bacteria ◽

Ground Beef ◽

Foodborne Illness ◽

Hand Washing ◽

Video Observation ◽

Cross Contamination ◽

Internal Temperature ◽

Department Of Agriculture ◽

The U.S

Ground beef has been linked to outbreaks of pathogenic bacteria like Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella. Consumers may be exposed to foodborne illness through unsafe preparation of ground beef. Video footage of 199 volunteers in Northern California preparing hamburgers and salad was analyzed for compliance with U.S. Department of Agriculture recommendations and for violations of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Food Code 2009. A questionnaire about consumer attitudes and knowledge about food safety was administered after each filming session. The majority of volunteers, 78%, cooked their ground beef patties to the Food Code 2009 recommended internal temperature of 155°F (ca. 68°C) or above, and 70% cooked to the U.S. Department of Agriculture consumer end-point guideline of 160°F (ca. 71°C), with 22% declaring the burger done when the temperature was below 155°F. Volunteers checked burger doneness with a meat thermometer in 4% of households. Only 13% knew the recommended internal temperature for ground beef. The average hand washing time observed was 8 s; only 7% of the hand washing events met the recommended guideline of 20 s. Potential cross-contamination was common, with an average of 43 events noted per household. Hands were the most commonly observed vehicle of potential cross-contamination. Analysis of food handling behaviors indicates that consumers with and without food safety training exposed themselves to potential foodborne illness even while under video observation. Behaviors that should be targeted by food safety educators are identified.

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Multistate Outbreak of Multidrug-Resistant Salmonella Newport Infections Associated with Ground Beef, October to December 2007

Journal of Food Protection ◽

10.4315/0362-028x.jfp-11-046 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 74 (8) ◽

pp. 1315-1319 ◽

Cited By ~ 34

Author(s):

J. L. SCHNEIDER ◽

P. L. WHITE ◽

J. WEISS ◽

D. NORTON ◽

J. LIDGARD ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Case Control Study ◽

Ground Beef ◽

Multidrug Resistant ◽

Chain Store ◽

Department Of Agriculture ◽

California Department ◽

Salmonella Newport ◽

Beef Products ◽

Inspection Service ◽

Control Study

In late October 2007, an outbreak of multidrug-resistant Salmonella Newport infections affected 42 case patients in California, Arizona, Idaho, and Nevada. A case-control study implicated ground beef from one chain store. Despite detailed ground beef purchase histories—including shopper card information for several case patients—traceback efforts by both the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service and the California Department of Public Health were unable to identify the source of contamination. Case patients consumed multiple types of ground beef products purchased at numerous chain store A retail locations. These stores had received beef products for grinding from multiple beef slaughter–processing establishments. Detailed retail grinding logs and grinding policies that prevent cross-contamination between batches of ground beef products are crucial in the identification of contaminated beef products associated with foodborne illness.

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Crystal Diagnostics MultiPath System™

Journal of AOAC International ◽

10.5740/jaoacint.14-053 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 97 (6) ◽

pp. 1592-1600 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Curtis H Stumpf ◽

Weidong Zhao ◽

Brian Bullard ◽

Christine Ammons ◽

Karl I Devlin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Liquid Crystal ◽

Laboratory Tests ◽

Ground Beef ◽

Escherichia Coli O157 ◽

Department Of Agriculture ◽

E Coli ◽

Independent Laboratory ◽

Diagnostics System ◽

Inspection Service ◽

The U.S

Abstract The Crystal Diagnostics MultiPath System™ provides rapid detection of Escherichia coli O157 in fresh raw ground beef, raw beef trim, and spinach. The Crystal Diagnostics system combines patented Liquid Crystal technology with antibody-coated paramagnetic microspheres to selectively capture and detect E. coli O157 in food matrixes. This is the only liquid crystal-based biosensor commercially available for the detection of pathogens. The Crystal Diagnostics system expeditiously provides the sensitivity and accuracy of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Bacteriological Analytical Manual (FDA-BAM) methods for detecting as low as one CFU of E. coli O157 per 375 g of raw ground beef and raw beef trim, or 200 g of raw spinach. An internal inclusivity validation demonstrated detection of all 50 tested strains of E. coli O157. The internal and independent laboratory tests demonstrate that the method is rapid and sensitive for detecting of E. coli O157 in fresh raw ground beef, beef trim, and spinach.

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Microbiology of Hot-Boned and Electrostimulated Meat

Journal of Food Protection ◽

10.4315/0362-028x-44.7.545 ◽

1981 ◽

Vol 44 (7) ◽

pp. 545-549 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

A. W. KOTULA

Keyword(s):

Electrical Stimulation ◽

Pathogenic Bacteria ◽

Meat Products ◽

Ground Beef ◽

Water Holding Capacity ◽

Microbial Counts ◽

Beef Carcasses ◽

Labor Safety ◽

Water Holding ◽

Microbiological Data

Boning of unchilled beef carcasses offers potential savings in energy, labor, safety, yield, and when coupled with electrical stimulation, provides tender beef with good water-holding capacity. Breaking of unrefrigerated beef carcasses into primals, subprimals and manufactured meat products, such as ground beef, provides the potential for increased levels of spoilage and pathogenic bacteria to contaminate the meat surfaces. Research carried out to characterize the influence of hot-boning and electrical stimulation on the microbial levels on beef carcasses, primals, ground beef and meat from other species showed that hot-boning of carcasses of any species need not cause inordinate increases of any groups of microorganisms on or in the resultant meat. The electrical stimulation treatment cannot be clearly shown to be responsible for improved microbial counts but the treatment did not cause an increase in counts. Present microbiological data do not preclude use of electrical stimulation coupled to hot-boning.

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Food Safety and Food Access: A Pilot Study

Journal of Food Research ◽

10.5539/jfr.v2n2p108 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

pp. 108 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Ellen K. Silbergeld ◽

Jose Augusto Frisancho ◽

Joel Gittelsohn ◽

Elizabeth T. Anderson Steeves ◽

Matthew F. Blum ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Staphylococcus Aureus ◽

Food Access ◽

Microbial Contamination ◽

Ground Beef ◽

Drug Resistant ◽

High Food ◽

Department Of Agriculture ◽

Food Borne ◽

Beef Products ◽

Neighborhood Level

Objectives: This study was designed to evaluate the feasibility of testing the hypothesis that differences in neighborhood level food access may be associated with consumer exposure to food borne microbial contamination. Methods: This study was carried out in Baltimore MD in 2011 among selected neighborhoods defined as high or low food access. In each category, packages of chicken thighs and ground beef were purchased from small stores and supermarkets. We evaluated presence of E. coli and Staphylococcus aureus and also tested isolates for antimicrobial resistance. Results: Microbial contamination of both chicken and beef products was highly prevalent (S. aureus-13/32 for chicken and 14/32 for beef; E. coli 21/32 for chicken and 12/32 for beef). Small stores were more likely to sell food carrying these microbes as well as MDR strains of both E. coli and S. aureus, and chicken was more likely to carry E. coli as compared to ground beef. Conclusions: This is the first study of this hypothesis. While it is limited in size and in focus on one US city, the results indicate that further research is appropriate to examine neighborhood level risk factors for differential exposures to food borne microbes. Abbreviations: S. aureus (Staphylococcus aureus); E. coli (Escherichia coli), MRSA (methicilllin resistant Staphylococcus aureus), MDR (multi-drug resistant), LFA (low food access), HFA (high food access). FDA (US Food and Drug Administration), USDA (US Department of Agriculture), CLSI (Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute).

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EXPLORING THE EXISTENCE OF GRADER BIAS IN BEEF GRADING

Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics ◽

10.1017/aae.2017.9 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 49 (3) ◽

pp. 467-489 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

JU WON JANG ◽

ARIUN ISHDORJ ◽

DAVID P. ANDERSON ◽

TSENGEG PUREVJAV ◽

GARLAND DAHLKE

Keyword(s):

Grading System ◽

Department Of Agriculture ◽

Beef Carcasses ◽

Quality Grade ◽

The U.S

AbstractThe U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) beef grading system plays an important role in marketing and promoting beef. USDA graders inspect beef carcasses and determine a quality grade within a few seconds. Although the graders are well trained, the nature of this grading process may lead to grading errors. Significant differences in the USDA graders’ “called” and “camera-graded” quality grades were observed, as well as variations in quality grades across seasons and years. Under grid pricing, producers gained financially from grades called by USDA graders rather than grades measured by cameras.

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Evaluation of Staphylococcus aureus Growth Potential in Ham during a Slow-Cooking Process: Use of Predictions Derived from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Pathogen Modeling Program 6.1 Predictive Model and an Inoculation Study

Journal of Food Protection ◽

10.4315/0362-028x-67.7.1512 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 67 (7) ◽

pp. 1512-1516 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

STEVEN C. INGHAM ◽

JILL A. LOSINSKI ◽

BRENDA K. DROPP ◽

LAURA L. VIVIO ◽

DENNIS R. BUEGE

Keyword(s):

Staphylococcus Aureus ◽

Pathogenic Bacteria ◽

Growth Potential ◽

Department Of Agriculture ◽

Heat Stable ◽

Biological Hazard ◽

Simulated Surface ◽

C 50 ◽

Inoculation Study ◽

The U.S

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has cautioned against slow cooking meat such that the interior temperature increases from 10°C (50°F) to 54.4°C (130°F) in ≥6 h. During a commercial ham-smoking process, the ham cold point is typically between 10 and 54.4°C for 13 h, but the ham is subsequently exposed to heating sufficient to eliminate vegetative pathogenic bacteria. Thus, production of heat-stable staphylococcal enterotoxin is the primary biological hazard. For this study, uncooked surface and uncooked ground interior ham were inoculated with a three-strain Staphylococcus aureus mixture, exposed to simulated surface and interior slow-cook conditions, respectively, and analyzed periodically using the Baird-Parker agar and 3M Petrifilm Staph Express count plate methods. For the surface and interior conditions, S. aureus numbers increased by no more than 0.1 and 0.7 log units, respectively. Predictions derived from actual time and temperature data and S. aureus growth values from a computer-generated model (Pathogen Modeling Program 6.1, U.S. Department of Agriculture) were for 2.7 (ham surface) and 9.9 to 10.5 (ham interior) generations of S. aureus growth, indicating that use of model-derived growth values would not falsely indicate safe slow cooking of ham. The Baird-Parker method recovered significantly (P < 0.05) greater numbers of S. aureus than the Petrifilm Staph Express method. For hams pumped with brine to attain (i) 18% (wt/wt) weight gain, (ii) ≥2.3% sodium lactate, (iii) ≥0.8% sodium chloride, and (iv) 200 ppm ingoing sodium nitrite, slow-cooking critical limits of ≤4 h between 10 and 34°C, ≤5 h between 34 and 46°C, and ≤5 h between 46 and 54.4°C could be considered adequate to ensure safety.

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A Novel Selective Medium for Simultaneous Enrichment of Shiga Toxin–Producing Escherichia coli and Salmonella in Ground Beef

Journal of Food Protection ◽

10.4315/0362-028x.jfp-17-520 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 81 (8) ◽

pp. 1252-1257 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

JOSEPH EGGERS ◽

JOELLEN M. FEIRTAG ◽

ALAN D. OLSTEIN ◽

JOSEPH M. BOSILEVAC

Keyword(s):

Escherichia Coli ◽

Shiga Toxin ◽

Ground Beef ◽

Performance Standards ◽

Selective Medium ◽

Microbiological Analysis ◽

Department Of Agriculture ◽

Selective Enrichment ◽

E Coli ◽

Inspection Service

ABSTRACT Microbiological analysis of ground beef for contamination by both Salmonella and Shiga toxin–producing Escherichia coli (STEC) is performed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS), as part of its Performance Standards Verification Testing program. FSIS has established a zero tolerance for STEC serotype O157:H7 and serogroups O26, O45, O103, O111, O121, and O145 because they are regarded as adulterants. The detection and isolation of these specific serogroups presents a technical challenge necessitating time-consuming and costly laboratory procedures that often exceed the technical capabilities of many small internal and reference laboratories. We describe here a method using a novel STEC and Salmonella selective (SSS) broth that allows for simultaneous selective enrichment of STEC and Salmonella sp., providing isolation and detection from the same broth. The method only involves direct plating from beef enrichments to detect suspect isolates that can be easily confirmed by using immunoassays or PCR, rendering the isolation simpler and less costly than the current described methods. In a side-by-side comparison with modified tryptic soy broth (mTSB), the use of SSS broth resulted in primarily isolating STEC and Salmonella sp., while substantially suppressing the growth of other gram-negative Enterobacteriacae by 90%. Significantly more (χ2 < 3.84) samples containing E. coli O157:H7 and STEC O26, O111, O121, and O145 and a nondifferent (χ2 > 3.84) number of samples containing STEC O103 and O45 were identified when enriching in SSS broth. Coenrichment using six different Salmonella serovars showed numerically greater but not significant (χ2 < 3.84) positive samples by using SSS broth compared with mTSB for a majority of serotypes.

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Sorting beef subprimals by ribeye area size at the packer level to optimize utility and product uniformity in foodservice and retail

Translational Animal Science ◽

10.1093/tas/txaa107 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 4 (3) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Chandler C Steele ◽

Ashley N Arnold ◽

Kerri B Gehring ◽

Davey B Griffin ◽

Jeffrey W Savell

Keyword(s):

Visual Images ◽

Department Of Agriculture ◽

Sorting Method ◽

Beef Carcasses ◽

Ribeye Area ◽

Beef Products ◽

Strip Loin ◽

Instrument Grading

Abstract The objectives of the study were to evaluate if sorting beef carcasses at the packer level by loin muscle (LM) area, using instrument grading technology, would increase the consistency of three boxed beef products for the foodservice and retail sectors of the industry. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Choice beef sides (n = 100) and USDA Select sides (n = 100) were selected and stratified into five LM area categories (±2.9 cm2): 1) 77.4, 2) 83.9, 3) 90.3, 4) 96.8, and 5) 103.2 cm2. Beef lip-on ribeyes and boneless strip loins were obtained from USDA Choice sides and full, partially defatted tenderloins were obtained from USDA Select sides. Subprimals were scanned with a portioner that captured visual images and dimensional analyses of each subprimal, and data were analyzed by the software to determine multiple portioning outcomes for each subprimal. Portioning data were generated for each subprimal based on a variety of targeted portion weights (ribeye and strip loin steaks = 340.2 g; tenderloin steak = 170.1 g), as well as various portion thicknesses (ribeye and strip loin steaks = 31.8 mm; tenderloin steak = 44.5 and 50.8 mm). Subprimal utility varied across targeted portion weights and thicknesses within each LM area category. For the ribeyes and strip loins, optimal portion weight and thickness combinations were observed more frequently in LM area categories 1 and 2 than for the three larger LM area categories. Analysis of data for tenderloins revealed that LM area categories played a lesser role in identifying optimization of steak portion weight and thickness combinations. Findings demonstrate that creating categories of beef subprimals based on LM area as opposed to subprimal weight might provide a unique sorting method that would improve boxed beef product consistency and uniformity for foodservice and retail sectors.

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Validation of Cooking Times and Temperatures for Thermal Inactivation of Yersinia pestis Strains KIM5 and CDC-A1122 in Irradiated Ground Beef†

Journal of Food Protection ◽

10.4315/0362-028x-72.3.564 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 72 (3) ◽

pp. 564-571 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

ANNA C. S. PORTO-FETT ◽

VIJAY K. JUNEJA ◽

MARK L. TAMPLIN ◽

JOHN B. LUCHANSKY

Keyword(s):

Thermal Inactivation ◽

Ground Beef ◽

Department Of Agriculture ◽

Clam Shell ◽

Open Flame ◽

Circulating Water ◽

Shell Type ◽

D Values ◽

Cooking Times ◽

The U.S

Irradiated ground beef samples (ca. 3-g portions with ca. 25% fat) inoculated with Yersina pestis strain KIM5 (ca. 6.7 log CFU/g) were heated in a circulating water bath stabilized at 48.9, 50, 52.5, 55, 57.5, or 60°C (120, 122, 126.5, 131, 135.5, and 140°F, respectively). Average D-values were 192.17, 34.38, 17.11, 3.87, 1.32, and 0.56 min, respectively, with a corresponding z-value of 4.67°C (8.41°F). In related experiments, irradiated ground beef patties (ca. 95 g per patty with ca. 25% fat) were inoculated with Y. pestis strains KIM5 or CDC-A1122 (ca. 6.0 log CFU/g) and cooked on an open-flame gas grill or on a clam-shell type electric grill to internal target temperatures of 48.9, 60, and 71.1°C (120, 140, and 160°F, respectively). For patties cooked on the gas grill, strain KIM5 populations decreased from ca. 6.24 to 4.32, 3.51, and ≤0.7 log CFU/g at 48.9, 60, and 71.1°C, respectively, and strain CDC-A1122 populations decreased to 3.46 log CFU/g at 48.9°C and to ≤0.7 log CFU/g at both 60 and 71.1°C. For patties cooked on the clam-shell grill, strain KIM5 populations decreased from ca. 5.96 to 2.53 log CFU/g at 48.9°C and to ≤0.7 log CFU/g at 60 or 71.1°C, and strain CDC-A1122 populations decreased from ca. 5.98 to ≤0.7 log CFU/g at all three cooking temperatures. These data confirm that cooking ground beef on an open-flame gas grill or on a clam-shell type electric grill to the temperatures and times recommended by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Food Code, appreciably lessens the likelihood, severity, and/or magnitude of consumer illness if the ground beef were purposefully contaminated even with relatively high levels of Y. pestis.

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