On August 18, 1998, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced plans to conduct a farm-to-table risk assessment for E. coli O157:H7 in beef with a focus on ground beef.

The overall goals of the assessment are as follows:

1. To quantitatively model, with attendant uncertainty, human illnesses caused by E. coli O157:H7 in beef in the United States and to compare these results with national estimates of illnesses derived from observed epidemiological data.
2. To identify the occurrence and levels of the pathogen at points along the farm-to-table continuum and the contribution of these points to the number of human illnesses.
3. To quantify the effects of various mitigation strategies in reducing the number of human illnesses.
4. To identify future research needs.
5. To document risk assessment methods and evidence for future assessments.
6. To document changes in the risk assessment model and its inputs.
7. To effectively communicate the results to all interested parties--government, consumer groups, industry, the scientific community and the general public.

On October 28, 1998 FSIS held a public meeting to solicit input into the scope of the risk assessment and scientific information and data that would be relevant to conducting the analysis. A complete transcript of the public meeting is on file in the FSIS docket (Docket #98-037N).

The November 1998 quarterly progress report provides a summary of the October 28 public meeting.

At the October 28 public meeting, FSIS released a draft report, Preliminary Pathways and Data for a Risk Assessment of E. coli O157:H7 in Beef. The draft report was not intended to present results, preliminary or otherwise. Comments on the draft and additional data identified during the public meeting or submitted to the docket in response to the August 18, 1998 Federal Register Notice by January 8, 1999 will be evaluated for inclusion in the development of the draft risk assessment model.

FSIS anticipates releasing a draft report documenting the baseline risk assessment model for public comment and peer review in the Spring of 2001.

Slide presentation summarizing the draft findings of the FSIS risk assessment of E. coli O157:H7 in ground beef. From talk presented at February 29, 2000, public meeting on E. coli O157:H7.