The effects of transport and lairage on counts of Escherichia coli O157 in the feces and on the hides of individual cattle.

Objectives: The main objective of this study was to determine the impact of transport and lairage on the isolation rate and the number of Escherichia coli O157 on cattle.

Materials: Ninety animals, divided into three groups (A, B, and C) of 30 animals each, were used in this study. Individual animals were tagged, and samples were collected from the hides and feces of each at a feedlot and again after slaughter.

Use of routine beef carcase Escherichia coli monitoring data to investigate the relationship between hygiene status of incoming stock and processing efficacy.

In Australian export-registered abattoirs microbiological monitoring is carried out within the E. coli and Salmonella Monitoring (ESAM) program. During the calendar year 2003, the ESAM database indicated a national prevalence of Escherichia coli of around 3.

A study of the prevalence and enumeration of Salmonella enterica in cattle and on carcasses during processing.

Salmonella prevalence and counts were estimated for samples from the oral cavity, hide, rumen, and feces of 100 cattle at slaughter and from the pre- and postchill carcasses of these cattle. Samples were collected from 25 consecutively slaughtered cattle from each of four unrelated groups slaughtered at a single abattoir on different days. Ten additional fecal samples from each group were collected from their respective abattoir holding pens prior to slaughter.

An investigation of Escherichia coli O157 contamination of cattle during slaughter at an abattoir.

The extent of contamination with Escherichia coli O157 was determined for 100 cattle during slaughter. Samples from 25 consecutively slaughtered cattle from four unrelated groups were collected from the oral cavity, hide, rumen, feces after evisceration, and pre- and postchill carcass. Ten random fecal samples were collected from the pen where each group of animals was held at the abattoir.

Presence of activatable Shiga toxin genotype (stx(2d)) in Shiga toxigenic Escherichia coli from livestock sources.

Stx2d is a recently described Shiga toxin whose cytotoxicity is activated 10- to 1000-fold by the elastase present in mouse or human intestinal mucus. We examined Shiga toxigenic Escherichia coli (STEC) strains isolated from food and livestock sources for the presence of activatable stx(2d). The stx(2) operons of STEC were first analyzed by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis and categorized as stx(2), stx(2c vha), stx(2c vhb), or stx(2d EH250).