German E. coli Outbreak May Prompt New Food Regs

NEW ORLEANSThe deadly E. coli outbreak in Germany that killed 39 and sickened more than 3,200 may prompt new regulations, improved surveillance and disease prevention strategies pertaining to fresh produce in Europe, according to new data presented at the 2011 Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Annual Meeting & Food Expo.

Professor Patrick Wall, the former chair of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) said, Once you have an outbreak like this it exposes weakness. Theres not time to fix them when an event is happening, and no one wants to give you resources when nothing is happening."

He said there are usually six potential causes of food-borne illness outbreakscontaminated ingredients, inadequate storage and refrigeration, insufficient cooking, cross contamination from raw products to cooked products, inadequate hygiene facilities for staff, and poorly trained and supervised staff. When a disease outbreak does occur, virus confirmation typically takes four or five days.

Wall said changes will need to be made worldwide to speed up testing and indentifying sources of confirmation throughout the world following this outbreak. Unfortunately, confirming the source of the source of the outbreak in Germany took more than two weeks, fanning speculation and fear that resulted in the boycott and widespread destruction of produce in Europe. Reinhard Burger, president of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), said the pattern of the outbreak had produced enough evidence to implicate the sprouts even though no tests on sprouts from an organic farm in question had come back positive for the particular E. coli strain that caused the outbreak.

He noted produce, meat and dairy may come from a local farm, the livestock may have received vitamins or medication from one part of the world, and the fertilizer used to grow crops from another.

The journey from farm to fork is not a straight line," Wall said. When you eat a meal you are eating off a global plate. We need consistent science throughout the world that is compatible with commerce."