The FSIS announced the intention to extend the Escherichia coli (STEC) testing to additional raw beef products

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced a plan to expand its routine verification testing for six Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (non-O157 STEC; O26, O45, O103, O111, O121, or O145) that are adulterants, in addition to the adulterant E. coli O157:H7, to ground beef, bench trim, and raw ground beef components other than raw beef manufacturing trimmings (i.e., head meat, cheek meat, esophagus meat, product from advanced meat recovery (AMR) systems, partially defatted chopped beef and partially defatted beef fatty tissue, low temperature rendered lean finely textured beef, and heart meat) for samples collected at official establishments. Currently, FSIS tests only its beef manufacturing trimmings samples for these six non-O157 STEC and E. coli O157:H7; all other raw beef products are presently tested for E. coli O157:H7 only. FSIS also intends to test for these non-O157 STEC in ground beef samples that it collects at retail stores and inapplicable samples it collects of imported raw beef products.  Comments on these changes are requested. @ https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/connect/152ef870-fc8e-4ce4-b840-c3a5696afd0e/2010-0023.htm?MOD=AJPERES