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Food Poisoning Health Center

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Food Poisoning Health Center

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Government Efforts to Minimize E. Coli Infection

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has launched several programs to protect the public from the risk of infection with disease-causing strains of E. coli, such as O157:H7. Its efforts include:

Sponsoring research to find ways to prevent cattle from carrying the bacteria, including efforts to develop a vaccine for cattle.
Developing improved methods of detecting the bacteria to keep them out of meat-packing plants.
Making the time and temperature controls in meat-processing plants more strict.
Requiring that all raw and partially cooked meat and poultry products have safe handling instructions on the package.
Requiring warning labels on unpasteurized fruit and vegetable juices.
Developing stricter regulations for fruit and vegetable juice processing.

Also, state and local health departments are working with the USDA to decrease the number of outbreaks of infection and to limit the extent of outbreaks when they occur.

Recommended Related to Food Poisoning

Top Shared Stories of 2011

Some things are too important to keep to yourself. You tell your friends and family right away, because they need it to stay safe or because you know it's a topic they follow. Tweet it, post it, email it -- you pass it along. This year, potential health risks -- especially about food -- topped WebMD's most-shared list. See for yourself: The most-shared story was an alert about a major ground beef recall due to E. coli risk. More than 60,000 pounds of ground beef were involved -- and everyone...

Read the Top Shared Stories of 2011 article > >

By	Healthwise Staff
Primary Medical Reviewer	Kathleen Romito, MD - Family Medicine
Specialist Medical Reviewer	W. David Colby IV, MSc, MD, FRCPC - Infectious Disease
Last Revised	June 14, 2010

WebMD Medical Reference from Healthwise

Last Updated: June 14, 2010

This information is not intended to replace the advice of a doctor. Healthwise disclaims any liability for the decisions you make based on this information.