Founded in 2006, the Center for Foodborne Illness Research & Prevention seeks to build bridges between research, policy and practice. In everything we do, our objective remains the same – creating a safe, secure, and sustainable food supply.
We are fighting to have mechanically tenderized beef labeled, so that consumers will know that these products have different cooking and safe handling requirements. See Barb’s blog for more information. Learn how to help us here.
CFI is working with industry and government leaders to reduce pathogens in poultry, without harming safety inspectors and line workers. We’re proud of our accomplishments.
Barbara and Pat touched your heart in Food, Inc. when they told Kevin’s story.
Learn more about Kevin and CFI’s efforts to pass Kevin’s Law.
Have you ever noticed that the USDA recommends that steaks and roasts be cooked to 145° while ground beef should be cooked to 160°? Have you ever wondered why there is a difference? After all, beef is beef -- right?
Actually there is a very good reason for the difference. While meat starts out sterile, it can become contaminated with bacteria -- like E. coli O157:H7 -- when it isn't handled properly during slaughtering or processing, and once contaminated, the only thing that will kill the bacteria is heat. With intact cuts of meat -- like steaks and roasts -- that contamination will be on the surface, not on the inside. Pathogens on the surface are much easier to kill, after all, the outside of the meat heats up much faster than the inside does, so the recommended temperature can be lower. However, with non-intact meat -- like ground beef -- surface bacteria can be moved moved or "translocated" to the inside of the meat where it is harder to kill, so a higher temperature is required. Sounds pretty straightforward, right? Intact meat gets cooked to a lower temperature of 145° and non-intact meat gets cooked to 160°.
Unfortunately, steaks and roasts are often not as they seem.
... Read the full story on Huffington Post here: When Is A Steak Not A Steak?
Two-year-old Kevin Kowalcyk's death from foodborne illness in 2001 should have been a wake-up call for food producers and federal policymakers. But they're still groggy. More than a decade later, his mom continues efforts to make food safer for us all.by Matt Dewald, A&S '95
When I first met alumna Barb Kowalcyk 10 years ago, I had called to talk about her 21/2-year-old son, Kevin. As a fellow Midwesterner and the father of a toddler myself, I felt like we had a few things in common.
But I also knew we had one very big difference. While we talked, my son Max was napping at a nearby preschool. Kevin had died the year before.
In that phone interview, we talked about the advocacy Kowalcyk had thrown herself into in response to Kevin's death. He had been killed by complications from a foodborne pathogen, E. coli, that he consumed in a contaminated hamburger. In less than two weeks, Kevin had gone from a healthy, giggling boy to one of the approximately 3,000 Americans who die each year from foodborne illnesses.
... Read the full story on UC Magazine here: Tragedy spurs advocacy
