Today, we hear about E. coli on a regular basis. When consumers are asked what they prefer in the foods that they eat, quality and taste often rank very high. Many consumers prefer a juicy hamburger that is a bit red on the inside or a glass of unpastuerized apple juice. While these foods may taste better, they also offer a higher risk to consumers when compared to a safely cooked hamburger and heat pasteurized juice. Some of these methods include irradiation, ozone, UV-light, high pressure and organic acids.
Further research is needed.
Since the organism can cause illness at very low levels, microbiologists need to be able to detect very low levels of cells. This has proven challenging to microbiologists and several methods are currently being investigated. Ideally, microbiologists would like to have a test that is rapid, accurate, inexpensive, and can detect as little as one cell. Several researchers are working on optimizing microbial detection, but we are far from reaching our goal. In addition, technology needs to be improved where scientists can track the bacteria from farms to processing plants to humans to effectively control the spread of this dangerous pathogen.