WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The six additional types of E. coli bacteria the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Monday it will declare as adulterants and begin testing for next year in beef can be just as deadly as, and are more pervasive than, the one type--E. coli 0157:H7--it tests for now, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack said Tuesday.
The USDA will not begin barring contaminated raw beef sold in stores until March 2012, after it has gone through the process of accepting and analyzing public comment on its plan.
It was in late 2009 or early 2010 that the rising threat of other, unregulated, types of E. coli first came to his attention, Vilsack said, and the USDA began developing the technology to conduct quick and accurate tests that could be used on a commercial scale.
Illness from E. coli 0157:H7 contamination is actually on the decline as illnesses from other E. coli are on the rise, Vilsack said.
Government data, he said, have "indicated in the last decade a 284% increase of confirmed illnesses as a result of [other E. coli bacteria] while we've seen a 27% decrease in the same period of time from [E. coli] 0157:H7."
The USDA could have begun implementing the process it began Monday much earlier, but approval of the agency's proposal got hung up at the White House Office of Management and Budget.
The USDA submitted its proposal to the OMB on Jan. 25. After a 90-day review, approval was put on hold indefinitely.
These other types of E. coli, including the six the USDA said it will add to the bacterial-adulterant list, are just as virulent as E. coli 0157:H7 and are responsible for twice as many illnesses in the U.S., Vilsack said.
"All of the [E. coli bacteria] we are talking about today are capable of killing people," USDA Under Secretary for Food Safety Elisabeth Hagen said.
The Consumer Federation of America, a nonprofit consumer advocacy and lobbing group, applauded the USDA's announcement Monday, but said it should have been done sooner.
"CFA and other consumer and public-health advocates have been urging this step for years," the group said in a statement.
The increased testing, CFA said, "will improve public health, [and]...the economic viability of the beef industry."
But industry representatives disagreed.
"Imposing this new regulatory program on ground beef will cost tens of millions of federal and industry dollars, costs that likely will be borne by taxpayers and consumers," James H. Hodges, the group's executive vice president, said Monday. "It is neither likely to yield a significant public-health benefit nor is it good public policy."
The USDA will need to spend $500,000 to $750,000 dollars a year to complete the extra E. coli testing, USDA's Vilsack said.
E. coli is especially dangerous in ground beef, Vilsack said, because it often contaminates ground beef and Americans often undercook hamburgers.
Enough heat, though, can kill the bacteria. That is why if government inspectors detect E. coli the contaminated beef must be cooked before being diverted to be included in processed food products.
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