Safety of Our Meat Supply: Assessing the Risks and Methods of Control

This presentation will demonstrate how pre-harvest food safety risk assessment can be used to guide regulatory decision-making, help to establish policies and standards, and explore impacts of different riskreduction options. The strengths, limitations and demands of risk assessment in the pre-harvest area will be discussed, using actual examples concerning E. coli O157:H7, and antimicrobial resistant bacteria. We used a quantitative model to assess the benefit of measures implemented in the pre-harvest period that are aimed at reducing the contamination of beef carcasses with E. coli O157. Control measures that were assessed were based on either a reduction in herd prevalence of infection, reduction in opportunity for cross-contamination, reduction of concentration of E. coli O157 in fresh feces (by vaccination or other method), or a reduction in the amount of feces, mud and bedding (”tag”) transferred from the hide to the carcass. Risk assessment is also being used in regulation of veterinary drugs, which will be the focus of the second example. FDA scientists have prepared and publicly presented a risk assessment on the human health impact of fluoroquinolone resistant Campylobacter associated with the consumption of chicken. Alternative approaches have been proposed and their stregths and limitations will be dicussed. Demands to enhance pre-harvest food safety continue to mount as microbial and chemical crises occur with amazing regularity around the world. Those concerned with managing risks at the farm level are often pressed to identify which risks can and should be addressed at that level, and at what cost. Risk assessment is gaining acceptance as a valuable tool because of the difficulty in making sound public health decisions in the face of complexity, uncertainty and varying scientific and public opinion. There is a compelling case for a decision-making process that is open and based on scientific evidence, economic analysis and wide consultation with due consideration of societal values.