Simulating Escherichia coli O157:H7 transmission to assess effectiveness of interventions in Dutch dairy-beef slaughterhouses.
Beef contamination with Escherichia coli O157:H7 (VTEC) is an important food-safety issue. To investigate the effectiveness of interventions against VTEC in Dutch beef industrial slaughterhouses that slaughter 500 dairy cattle per day, a Monte Carlo simulation model was built. We examined seven carcass-antimicrobial interventions, namely: hot-water wash, lactic-acid rinse, trim, steam-vacuum, steam-pasteurization, hide-wash with ethanol and gamma irradiation, and their combinations. The estimated daily prevalence of contaminated beef-carcass quarters as the output of the model was 9.2%. Contaminated was defined as containing one or more CFU on the surface of a carcass quarter at the end of the quartering stage. Single interventions (except irradiation) could reduce the prevalence to from 6.2% to 1.7%, whereas the combination of interventions could lower it to from 1.2% to 0.1%. The most powerful intervention was irradiation, which could reduce the prevalence to <0.1%. The results of this study indicate that application of single interventions might be useful, although not sufficient. Hence, a combination of interventions along the slaughter process is the more promising approach to reduce the prevalence of contaminated beef quarters.
Vosough Ahmadi
Bouda
B
Business Economics Group, Wageningen University, Hollandseweg 1, Wageningen, The Netherlands. Bouda.Vosough-Ahmadi@wur.nl
Velthuis
Annet G J
AG
Hogeveen
Henk
H
Huirne
Ruud B M
RB
D000003:Abattoirs / Q000592:standards; D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000635:transmission; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003257:Consumer Product Safety; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000635:transmission / Q000662:veterinary*; D019453:Escherichia coli O157 / Q000187:drug effects / Q000528:radiation effects; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005511:Food Handling / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D005514:Food Irradiation; D005516:Food Microbiology; D006801:Humans; D008460:Meat / Q000382:microbiology; D008892:Milk / Q000382:microbiology; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D009426:Netherlands; D012307:Risk Factors