I received yet another letter from my recent pen pal, Dr. Derfler, at the USDA’s FSIS. (click on image below):

For those interested in the retail hamburger testing for non-O157 that prompted the Petition, click here.  That Abstract was based upon about 1,000 samples.  We now have sampled about 5,000.  An updated Abstract and Paper is forthcoming.  For those interested in the actual back and forth between Dr. Phil and I, click here. For those willing to wade through the actual Petition:

Petition for an Interpretive Rule Declaring all enterohemorrhagic Shiga Toxin-producing Serotypes of Escherichia coli (E. coli), Including Non-O157 Serotypes, to be Adulterants Within the Meaning of 21 U.S.C. § 601(m)(1)