March 31, 1998 - New Detector Spots Unseen Fecal Contamination in Seconds

by Dan Murphy

A new technology to detect unseen fecal contamination on fresh meat could help industry meet food-safety regulations designed to control pathogenic bacteria, according to research sponsored by USDA's Agricultural Research Service and Iowa State University.

Fecal matter is the major source of bacterial contamination in meat and poultry slaughterhouses, and after the 1993 E. coli O157:H7 outbreak in the Pacific Northwest, USDA developed new sanitation requirements that include zero tolerance for fecal contamination and mandatory tests for the presence of E. coli.

"These have not been easy tasks [for industry] to accomplish using current methods," said Thomas A. Casey, an ARS microbiologist at the National Animal Disease Center in Ames, Iowa.

The job may just have gotten easier, however.

Using fluorescent spectroscopy, ARS researchers and Iowa State University chemist Jacob W. Petrich built a detector that illuminates unseen fecal contamination on meat. Used as a hand-held unit, similar to metal detectors in airports, the instrument could alert meatpackers to fecal contamination within seconds. The contaminated carcass could then be sanitized before the contamination spreads.

"The device is adaptable to any size packing plant," Petrich said. "With this new technology, this job of inspecting carcasses for fecal contamination will be easier, faster and more accurate."

The ARS/ISU researchers are patenting their technology, and discussions are under way on possible commercial development.

This article reprinted with permission from Meat Marketing & Technology.

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