CFA Briefing – Relevance of generic E coli (inc testing issues) to food safety including fresh produce- Free Digital Download Briefing Paper

Escherichia coli (E. coli) is a bacterium commonly found in the gut of humans and warm-blooded animals. Most strains of E. coli are harmless and some provide many health benefits to the host; for example, they prevent colonization of the gut by harmful pathogens.

However, there are small groups of E.coli, referred to as pathogenic E.coli, that can cause severe disease in humans, which are well known to be transmitted by food and/or water and have been implicated in major food borne outbreaks worldwide e.g. radish sprouts in Japan, Sprouted seeds in Germany, raw / undercooked beef products UK and USA.

This briefing note looks at the relevance of generic E coli to food safety referring to fresh produce and is also relevant to all food types.

With sections including transmission, testing and prevention it concludes:

• A positive for STEC alone may not cause illness.
• The isolation of an stx (shigatoxin) gene in addition to a gene for attachment has to be isolated in an E.coli cell  for the isolate to cause illness. 
• All parties agree with the confirmed stage of the method, but FSA’s decision to call isolation of stx alone as presumptive is misleading.
• Action required in the event of a presumptive result is inappropriate and not possible for the industry.
• Food safety can only be controlled by routinely testing for indicator organisms e.g. generic E. coli and monitoring trends to proactively prompt investigation.
• HACCP and PRPs are paramount, supported by environmental and product monitoring.

Briefing paper available as a free digital download.