I’m off to the “other Washington” in the morning to meet with Congressmen and Senators on food safety issues and to attend a conference on E. coli.  I know, ya’ll wish you were going.  The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (FDA CFSAN), and the National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will co-sponsor a public meeting on October 17, 2007. The purpose of the meeting is to consider the public health significance of non-Escherichia coli (E. coli) O157:H7 Shiga toxin-producing E. coli.

DATES: The public meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 17, 2007, 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

ADDRESS: The meeting will be held at the Arlington campus of George Mason University, 3401 N. Fairfax Drive, Room 244, Arlington, VA 22201.

hmmm, do you think that I have sued, Topps, Nebraska Beef and Cargill in the last week will come up?  See, Lawsuits Filed Against Nebraska Beef and Cargill Today.  My friends at Barfblog (yes, there really is such a blog) were on top (no pun intended re: Topps) of non-O157 outbreaks.  Here is a listing that they put together:

Interestingly, they did miss adding in the fact that the Dole 2006 spinach outbreak included ill persons, and at least one who died, of non-O157 Shiga toxin-producing E. coli.  Perhaps at todays meeting the government will actually announce that.