Changes Coming Soon to USDA-FSIS Testing, Sampling for E. coli, Salmonella in Beef
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA’s FSIS) has announced upcoming changes and expansions to its beef sampling and testing programs for Escherichia coli and Salmonella. FSIS to Replace N60 Method with Cloth Method to Sample Trim. Beginning February 1, 2023, FSIS intends to stop using the N60 excision method to sample domestic beef manufacturing trimmings […]
Should Nuts and Low-Moisture Foods Consider a New Sampling Approach
By Dr. Eric Wilhelmsen A pervasive trend exists to take larger and more frequent samples to address microbial contamination. This trend has touched almonds and is expected to hit other nut products. Various low-moisture powders have been shown to be very heterogeneous with regard to pathogen contamination. If experience holds true, then increased sample size […]
Determination of Verification Parameters for Using the Manual Sampling Device for Fresh Raw Beef Trim
By Dr. Terrance M. Arthur, Ted Brown and Dr. Tommy L. Wheeler Multifaceted food safety systems are used by the beef processing industry to minimize risk of bacterial contamination of the finished product. These systems are comprised of several parts including the conditional release of product requiring a sample to produce a negative result on a […]
Ongoing Improvements to Meat and Poultry Safety
By Dr. Eric Wilhelmsen The meat and poultry industries are an interesting mix of conservative practices and innovation. A handful of large players control the bulk of production; yet, numerous small players find their niches. Beef is king. Poultry might be queen, but pork seafood are serious sectors in their own right. The rise of […]
Novel Continuous and Manual Sampling Methods for Beef Trim Microbiological Testing
By Dr. Terrance M. Arthur and Dr. Tommy L. Wheeler A sampling method that represents a greater proportion of the beef trimmings in a 900-kg combo bin should improve the current pathogen sampling and detection programs used by fresh beef processors. This study compared two novel, nondestructive sampling methodologies (a continuous sampling device [CSD] and […]
The Apparent Evolution of Sampling for Food Safety
By Dr. Eric Wilhelmsen Sampling and related testing is often in the spotlight when pathogens cause illness in most any food product. Inadequate sampling with testing is often identified as the cause of the illness when in fact testing does not mitigate food safety problems. Sampling and testing together are an assessment tool that can […]
Validation of Additional Approaches and Applications for Using the Continuous and Manual Sampling Devices for Raw Beef Trim
By Dr. Terrance M. Arthur and Dr. Tommy L. Wheeler In this work, the goal was to determine the efficacy of MicroTally®-based sampling in scenarios commonly encountered in the commercial beef processing industry, but outside of the parameters evaluated during the initial proof-of-concept work. The data were derived from 1,650 matched samples collected from 540 individual combo […]
Use of a Non-Destructive Surface Sampling Device to Sample Domestic Beef Manufacturing Trimmings and Bench Trim
On February 1, 2023, FSIS intends to stop using the N60 excision sampling method to sample domestic beef manufacturing trimmings and bench trim for adulterant Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (E. coli) (STEC) and Salmonella. FSIS intends to replace the N60 excision sampling method with a non-destructive surface sampling method that uses a cloth manual sampling […]
IAFP Poster: E. coli from Beef Trim using Surface Swabs
See the IAFP Poster on Recovery of Escherichia coli 0157:H7 by the Bax® System in Beef Trim using Surface Sampling Swabs.