A national trade group representing beef producers is opposed to a research project that found dust from feedlots can contaminate crop fields and irrigation water.
The National Beef Producers Association issued a statement saying more research was needed.
The backlash came after the Food and Drug Administration reported the results of a five-year research project it conducted in collaboration with state and local governments and groups representing leafy green growers. The project, which ran from 2019 to earlier this year, was launched after a deadly E. coli outbreak in 2018 was linked to romaine lettuce grown in Arizona.
The romaine fields were located near, and in some cases adjacent to, feedlots housing 80,000 cattle, and the area in the Arizona desert is crossed by uncovered irrigation canals.
The Livestock Farmers Association cited a 2018 study that found outbreak strains of E. coli in irrigation water but not specifically in feedlots.
“Despite the findings of the 2018 investigation, we are concerned that some may mistakenly interpret the FDA’s new investigation as suggesting that the livestock industry is to blame for the spread of the disease, when the scientific evidence does not support such a conclusion,” said NCBA CEO Collin Woodall.
“Obviously, we need more scientific data, but we can’t get ahead of the science and shift the blame game.”
The five-year study included more than 15,000 tests collected from an area near Yuma, Arizona, that represents 12 percent of the irrigated crop area.
“Microbial analyses of air, water, and lettuce leaves demonstrated deposition of dust from cattle barns in nearby water and land, suggesting that dust from CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations) may play a role in STEC transmission in this region. These findings suggest that STEC can survive in the air and that dust may serve as a mechanism for transmission of both pathogens and indicator organisms (such as the common E. coli) from adjacent and nearby land to water, soil, and plant tissues,” the report states.
Midway through the five-year study, the FDA conducted another investigation into outbreaks linked to leafy greens in 2020. The conclusion published in the 2021 investigation report read, “We Preliminary findings The research team, which reported the study earlier this year, found the outbreak’s causative strain in a cow fecal sample collected from a roadside about a mile uphill from the produce field. The discovery drew renewed attention to the possibility that grazing cows on farmland near leafy vegetable fields could increase the risk of produce contamination, where contamination can spread by water, wind, or other means. Indeed, results from foodborne illness outbreak investigations since 2013 have suggested the proximity of cows as a factor in leafy vegetable contamination. Cattle have repeatedly been demonstrated to be a persistent source of pathogenic E. coli, including E. coli O157:H7.”
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