On 4 June, the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service will begin verification testing in raw beef trimmings for seven shiga toxin producing Escherichia coli, writes Chris Harris. These include O157, O26, O103, O111, O121, O45, and O145 and it is the first time that tests will have been instigated for non-O157 E.coli.

An additional six cases of E. coli O157 are now suspected in children at a nursery in Scotland, as one of the three hospitalized children has been released. The Scottish Sun reports infection experts are trying to track down the source of the sickness and diarrhoa outbreak which hit the under-twos section at Rose Lodge Nursery in Aboyne, Aberdeenshire.

It’s an unfortunate, but familiar story for UK childcares. The Scotsman reports three infants were being treated in hospital following a suspected E coli O157 outbreak linked to the baby unit at a nursery school.

The industry is taking appropriate steps to help ensure that U.S. beef is safe from E. coli contamination, according to a recent audit by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Office of the Inspector General (OIG). The auditors visited six beef slaughter plants directly responsible for processing about 17 percent of the U.S. beef supply.