On Aug. 20, 2015, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) issued Directive 10,010.2 (http://bit.ly/regleg1115) to instruct inspection program personnel (IPP) on how to conduct STEC verification activities, other than sampling, for raw beef (including veal and not-ready-to eat beef). Although FSIS has issued a new directive, “the agency has not made fundamental changes to the approach IPP use when performing STEC verification activities.”
FSIS makes clear that adulterant STEC (E. coli O157:H7 and the six non-O157 STEC) is a food safety hazard in raw non-intact beef and in intact beef intended for non-intact use. That said, an establishment has flexibility to address this hazard through its HACCP plan, a pre-requisite program, its SSOPs, or a combination of these. Moreover, an establishment can determine its controls over E. coli O157:H7 would be effective for the non-O157 STEC, negating the need to have separate provisions for non-O157 STEC, “unless data such as multiple non-O157 STEC sample results indicate otherwise.”