ATCC Now Offers the “Big Six” E. Coli Strains for Food Safety Testing

ATCC, the premier biological materials resource and standards organization, announced that it is now offering strains from each of the six non-O157 Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) serotypes to the food safety community.

The strains referred to as the “Big Six” have been linked to a growing number of foodborne illnesses prompting the U.S. Department of Agriculture to add them to their test regimen. The USDA now requires routine verification testing for the presence of STEC serogroups O26, O45, O103, O111, O121, and O145 in raw beef manufacturing trimmings and other raw ground beef components produced domestically and imported.

“The global community has been experiencing food-associated outbreaks of non-O157 Shiga toxin-producing E. coli for years,” said Dr. Raymond Cypess, CEO of ATCC. “Our role is to equip food safety programs with well characterized, standard materials for microbial testing,” he added. Food microbiology laboratories look to the ATCC brand to provide the top-quality microbial strains needed to maintain outstanding programs. Since 1925, ATCC has set the standard for authenticating and distributing biological materials for research, development and quality control testing.