title: Control of VTEC in Dutch livestock and meat production.
abstract: The Dutch government and the meat industry, recognising VTEC as having important public health, meat quality and economic implications, have taken a number of initiatives within the last 5 years to control VTEC in livestock and meat. These initiatives, brought together last year in a 'Masterplan VTEC', include short-, middle- and long-term priorities. Short-term priorities include advice on interventions in the cases of an outbreak of VTEC associated with a cattle herd, the implementation of handbooks for Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) in slaughterhouses and deboning plants, and the execution of an action programme on zero-tolerance to faecal contamination of carcasses. Mid-term activities include surveillance of the occurrence of VTEC and other enteropathogens in livestock and meat, and the investigations of VTEC population dynamics in dairy farms, transportation and farm hygiene. In the longer term, this programme aims to produce a system of Integrated Quality Assurance, consolidating effective measures to control VTEC in Dutch livestock and meat, and integrating emerging means for control and prevention.
authors.affiliation: Center for Veterinary Public Health and Environmental Protection, Department of the Science of the Food of Animal Origin, Utrecht University, Netherlands.
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Reinders
authors.forename: M F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.forename: L J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Lipman
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Verhoeff
authors.forename: P G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Bijker
mesh_terms: D000003:Abattoirs / Q000592:standards; D000822:Animal Husbandry / Q000592:standards; D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000662:veterinary; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D019453:Escherichia coli O157 / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D006801:Humans; D008460:Meat / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000592:standards*; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D011786:Quality Control