Now that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has added the top six non-O157 Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) to its list of adulterants in ground beef, what does this mean for the industry and food safety?

The background, detection, control and implications of declaring these STEC serotypes ilegal in meat will be the focus of a webinar, “Top Six Non-O157 E. coli,” sponsored by Food Seminars International Sept. 16, and Sept. 20 that will describe the history of STEC and the reasons why this diverse group of pathogens can be so virulent.

The 90-minute, interactive webinar, aimed at quality-control, operations and production managers; food scientists and technologists; food safety personnel; HACCP coordinators, plant microbiologists; food inspectors and others, will be  presented by Dr. Keith Warriner.

Dr. Warriner, associate professor in the Department of Food Science at University of Guelph, Canada, will discuss:

•Evolution of the STEC group

•Important sources of non-O157 STEC and dissemination routes

•Outbreaks implicating non-O157 STEC

•Approaches to control non-O157 STEC at the farm, processing and user interface levels

•Diagnostics for detection and differentiating STEC

•Regulatory policy relating to non-O157 STEC

•Future trends in the area of non-O157 STEC

The Sept. 16 webinar is scheduled for 3:30 – 5 p.m. EDT.  The Sept. 20 webinar is scheduled for 2 – 3:30 p.m. EDT. Cost is $269 for the webinar only; $359 for the webinar plus recording, $289 for the recording only.

Registration is required. For more information contact info@FoodSeminarsInternational.com, call at 215-465-SAFE or visit www.FoodSeminarsInternational.com.