Control of VTEC in Dutch livestock and meat production

The Dutch government and the meat industry, recognising VTEC as having impo rtant public health, meat quality and economic implications, have taken a n umber of initiatives within the last 5 years to control VTEC in livestock a nd meat. These initiatives, brought together last year in a 'Masterplan VTE C'. include short-. middle- and long-term priorities. Short-term priorities include advice on interventions in the cases of an outbreak of VTEC associ ated with a cattle herd, the implementation of handbooks for Good Manufactu ring Practice (GMP) in slaughterhouses and deboning plants. and the executi on of an action programme on zero-tolerance to faecal contamination of carc asses. Mid-term activities include surveillance of the occurrence of VTEC a nd other enteropathogens in livestock and meat, and the investigations of V TEC population dynamics in dairy farms, transportation and farm hygiene. In the longer term. this programme aims to produce a system of Integrated Qua lity Assurance. consolidating effective measures to control VTEC in Dutch l ivestock and meat, and integrating emerging means for control and preventio n. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.