Researchers are confident they’ve found a way to dramatically
reduce E. coli, one of the nation’s deadliest food-borne
pathogens,
where it starts.

Food scientists at the University of Georgia Center for Food
Safety in Griffin, Ga., have isolated beneficial bacteria in some
cattle’s intestines. Feeding cultures of these bacteria to
cattle,
they say, dramatically reduces E. coli both in their intestines
and their feces.

E. coli Lives in
Cattle

E. coli lives in the gastrointestinal tract of cattle
and is shed in manure. The manure then spreads onto animal hides
and into farm environments: drinking water for animals and
irrigation
water and soil used for growing crops.

The traditional method of vaccinating animals to prevent their
carrying E. coli doesn’t prevent their shedding it in feces. “Our
new probiotic treatment shows great promise in this area,” said
CFS Director Mike Doyle.

The university has received a patent for the cultures. The
U.S. Food and Drug Administration must now review the new
treatment method. If the FDA approves, the cultures can be made
commercially available as a treatment in cattle feed.

Beneficial
Bacteria

Funded in part by the FDA, the UGA studies took advantage
of what was already working.

“We examined about 1,200 bacteria isolated from cattle
that didn’t carry E. coli O157:H7,” Doyle said.
“We looked for beneficial bacteria that prevent E.
coli
O157:H7 from being carried in the intestinal tract of
cattle.”

The resulting probiotic bacterial culture was fed to weaned
calves and adult cattle. The treatment dramatically reduced the
carrying and fecal shedding of E. coli. It eliminated E.
coli
O157:H7 from 80 percent to 90 percent of the treated cattle.

Reduces Human
Risks

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate
100,000
cases of food-borne illness are linked to enterohemorrhagic
E. coli each year. The CFS culture suppresses E. coli
O157:H7,
the deadliest type, along with some other strains.

“As best we know, cattle are the principal source of
enterohemorrhagic
E. coli,” Doyle said. “By reducing the amount
of harmful E. coli they carry, we can reduce the
environmental
exposure of people to these pathogens.”

Farm, Petting Zoo
Visits

Most E. coli-related illnesses can be traced back
to eating undercooked hamburgers. But exposure to cattle manure
on the farm, Doyle said, is also a contributing factor.

“More and more, we’re seeing that food is not the sole
vehicle that carries enterohemorrhagic E. coli,” Doyle said.
“Being exposed to animals, primarily
cattle, and their manure is an important factor.”

Ruminating animals like cattle, goats, deer and sheep all
carry
E. coli, Doyle said. Visits to farms and petting zoos
continue to be linked to outbreaks of E. coli
illnesses.

“People have to remember that these animals often lie
on their manure, which clings to their hair and hides,” he
said. “A recent outbreak in Pennsylvania, where several
children
were infected by E. coli, was associated with a farm
visit.”

For more information on E. coli and other food safety issues,
see the CFS Web site at www.griffin.peachnet
.edu/cfsqe/).