Prevalence and numbers of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in minced beef and beef burgers from butcher shops and supermarkets in the Republic of Ireland.

In this study 1533 samples of fresh and frozen minced beef or beef burgers were collected over a 13-month period. Overall, E. coli O157:H7 was recovered from 2.8% samples with counts ranging from <0.52–4.03 log10cfu/g. Of the positive samples, 2.7% were purchased from supermarkets and 3.14% from butcher shops. Only one product type (fresh unpacked burgers from supermarkets) was negative for E. coli O157:H7. Of the products containing the pathogen, fresh packaged burgers from supermarkets had the highest prevalence of 4.5% while fresh unpackaged mince purchased from supermarkets had the lowest prevalence of 2%. Food Microbiology 2004;21:203-212.