Non-O157 testing of raw ground beef and ground beef components

• Published in: National Provisioner 2014-12, Vol.228 (12), p.12
• Main Author: Johnson, Dennis R
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Beef; Cost benefit analysis; Cost estimates; Food safety
• ISSN: 0027-996X; 1938-3835

On Nov. 19, 2014, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) published a Notice in the Federal Register announc- ing the availability of its cost-benefit analyses on the current non-O157 STEC testing of beef trimmings and the potential expansion of the agency's testing program to raw ground beef and ground beef components. In estimating the costs of the non-O157 testing of trim, ground and other components, FSIS fo- cused almost exclusively on the costs attributed to the increase in the number of non-O157 samples likely analyzed by the industry and the number analyzed by the agency; an annual total of only $2.37 million. * For industry non-0157 testing, FSIS calculated a cost of approxi- mately $985,000 per year; the cost of analyzing an additional 41,457 trim samples, 2,552 ground samples, 1,366 other raw ground components and 192 bench trim samples. * For FSIS sample costs, FSIS expects an added cost of approximately $700,000 for ground and approxi- mately $200,000 for other compo- nents/bench trim.