THERE is no monitoring programme in Ireland or Europe for a deadly strain of bug, Escherichia coli 0157:H7, which causes diarrhoeal illness in humans and has killed children in the United States.
The E. Coli strain, which was identified 10 years ago, has now been found in a small percentage of children suffering from gastro intestinal illness in Ireland, and in a sample of salami.
The bacterium causes a severe and potentially fatal illness called haemorrhagic colitis and has been responsible for a steadily increasing number of food poisoning incidents. Its symptoms include bloody diarrhoea and severe abdominal pain which may lead to haemolytic uraemic syndrome, the leading cause of kidney failure in children.
The majority of the outbreaks have occurred in North America but outbreaks have also occurred in Europe, Asia and Africa. The largest outbreak was between November 1992 and February 1993 in the north western United States, when 447 cases were reported. Three children died.
The source was contaminated patties supplied by a factory to fast food chain. The patties had been cooked properly, which in the survival of the organism and infection of restaurant patrons.
However, no E. coli 0157:H7 has been found in minced beef samples in Dublin, according to Dr Geraldine Duffy, a research officer in the meat technology department at the National Food Centre in Dublin. "Surprisingly, a survey of salami, a ready to eat product, has shown one sample out of eight tested to contain the 0157 serotype (12 per cent). This result for a ready to eat product is very high," she writes in the current edition of Farm and Food magazine.
Dr Duffy says that despite concerns about the new strain, few laboratories routinely examine foods for this organism.
The National Food Centre in Dublin is involved in a three year joint campaign with the US Department of Agriculture to investigate the growth and survival of E. coli 0157:H7 during the fermentation, drying and storage of pepperoni sausages.
It is now known that different strains of 0157 have different thermal resistance and this can vary depending on other conditions such as microflora, food components and physiological factors.
Calling lob more research, Dr Duffy points out there is no official monitoring programme in Ireland, or indeed Europe, to test for the organism. Therefore the true incidence is unknown, though outbreaks are being increasingly reported.