It was just short of 20 years ago that beef producers had to familiarize themselves with the term E. coli 0157:H7 and learn about the ramifications of the pathogen. Now there's a new set of letters and numbers related to food safety that need similarattention - STEC. STEC - or Shiga toxin-producing E. coli - includes 0157:H7, but represents a broader continuum of both benign and virulent germs that researchers, government officials and industry leaders are working hard to overcome. While hundreds of non-0157 STEC exist, they vary considerably in their severity, with some possibly as dangerous as 0157:H7, and others presenting no problems.
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