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Controlling Dust controls E.coli

published: February 2nd 2010
by: Chris Harris
source: beefcattlesite.com

Dr Mark Miller from the Department of Animal and Food Science at Texas Tech University told the convention's Cattlemen's College that studies looking into the cleanliness of the vehicles transporting the cattle to the abattoir showed no difference in the risk and liability for E.coli 0157 to be found on the production line.

However, he said that during the investigations the researchers saw that large clouds of dust surrounded the animals while they were being rounded up and this led them to look into the possibility of carcase and hide contamination.

The research found that the dust contained a mixture of the faeces of the cattle, which contaminated the carcases with both E.coli and salmonella.

Dr Miller said that they noticed that the contamination occurred in spikes, similar to the potential for outbreaks of food poisoning outbreaks.

He added that if the spikes in contamination increasing the pathogen load on the carcases by more than three logs coincided with problems on the production line, such as staff shortages, then the recipe was in place for potential food poisoning incidents.

Dr Miller added that the study also found that by damping down the areas where the cattle were rounded up in the feedlots, helped to suppress the degree of contamination, of the carcases even though it did not alter the amount of the pathogen contamination in the environment.

"Control of the dust resulted in fewer animals testing positive at the plant," Dr Miller concluded.