No one seems to know what should be done about E. Coli.
E. Coli, a bacterium found in cow meat, has been the subject of food-safety controversy for some time. While these bacteria could live in a cow’s digestive tract without making it sick, it could make humans ill if taken in large doses. Agencies such as Epitopix, a Minnesota company, and Bioniche Life Science in Canada, are producing vaccinations that decrease the chances of E. Coli bacteria by 75%. By injecting the formula into a cow, they are diminishing the risk of cattle bringing the bacteria into the slaughterhouse.
However, this vaccination reached a gray area in the boundaries between animal medicine and human health. Initially, there was a dispute between the Agriculture Department and the FDA, both claiming that the choice was not within their jurisdiction. Neither were accountable for animal vaccination under federal law. The Agriculture Department decided that it would consider the vaccination, with the condition that there had to be a 90% reduction rate in the cattle carrying the infection, as well as a 99.9% decrease in the bacteria being carried. This was a very unrealistic goal, and in the meantime people were getting sick. At long last, the Agriculture Department came to a final decision and allowed the farmers to give cows the vaccinations,
Although the vaccines appear to be the quickest and somewhat cheapest solution, what will it really do to our health in the long run? Wouldn’t it be safer to just stick to an old fashioned HACCP procedure, in which each individual cow would be tested for the bacteria and then turned to the slaughterhouse?
If you want to know more about cows, Nate posted a blog about meat in the food system the other day. Chef Anne also had an interesting take on meat in our school lunches. Check out what they had to say!
