In the meat industry, a ‘‘high event period’’ (HEP) is defined as a time period during which commercial meat plants experience a higher than usual rate of Escherichia coli O157:H7 contamination. Genetic analysis indicated that within a HEP, most of the E. coli O157:H7 strains belong to a singular dominant strain type. This was in disagreement with the current beef contamination model stating th...
