Negotiating bacteriological meat contamination standards in the US: The case of E-coli O157 : H7

The paper analyzes changes in bacteriological meat contamination standards in the vs since the early 1980s when E. coli O157:H7 was for the first time identified as a new foodborn pathogen associated with the consumption of u ndercooked meat. Four types of risks, and the standards associated with the m, are identified. Up until 1982 meat contamination was ascertained via org anoleptic standards. Meat was considered as safe as producers' and/or consu mers' sanitary conditions and hygiene. In 1982, the identification of E. co il O157:H7 as a pathogen dangerous to human health resulted in a redefiniti on from organoleptic to biomedical standards. Meat contamination risks were measured by the extent to which sick patients could recover from foodborne diseases or die. In 1993, as a result of the massive 'Jack-in-the-Box outb reak' associated with the consumption of hamburgers contaminated with E. co il O157:H7, biomedical standards were reformulated into epidemiological mea sures aimed at ascertaining the extent to which the country's population wa s at risk of getting sick or dying from meat contamination. Finally, in 199 6, with the enactment of the Pathogen Reduction Act/HACCP, meat processing standards replaced epidemiological standards. Meat was to be as safe as pac kers processed it. Economic, political, social, scientific and technologica l factors contributing to the origins of each of the four types of bacterio logical meat standards are analyzed. Consequences of the changes in standar ds in terms of re-distribution of costs, benefits, and risks to those socia l actors engaged in the meat subsector are discussed.