shiga toxin-producing escherichia coli in certain raw beef products the food safety and inspection service fsis intends to carry out verification procedures to ensure control of both escherichia coli o157 h7 e. coli o157 h7 and six other serogroups of shiga toxin-producing e. coli stec o26 o45 o103 o111 o121 and o145 . the agency intends to implement sampling and testing for the additional stec. fsis has determined that these six serogroups as well as o157 h7 are adulterants of non-intact raw beef products and product components within the meaning of the federal meat inspection act fmia . fsis will initially sample raw beef manufacturing trimmings and other ground beef product components produced domestically and imported and test the samples for these serogroups. fsis is requesting comment on the following specific subjects 1 fsis regulatory sampling plan for non-o157 stec for the above serogroups 2 suggestions for baseline survey of non-o157 stec prevalence in certain raw beef products 3 whether a technical meeting on methods for controlling non-o157 stec should be held during the comment period 4 whether to hold an additional public meeting on the plan for implementing the policy on non-o157 stec 5 validation guidance for pathogen detection test kits 6 preliminary estimates of the cost per test for non-o157 stec 7 estimates of the loss to industry of diverting positive-testing product to cooking 8 the usefulness of technical workshops for small and very small establishments 9 what obstacles might prevent establishments from adjusting to the fsis policy on non-o157 stec by march 5 2012 and what alternative implementation date would be more practical 10 what education outreach or training materials would be of greatest assistance to establishments in preparing for implementation of the agencys policy 11 for foreign governments what additional information would be helpful in addressing equivalency or implementation concerns not already addressed in this document and accompanying materials 12 we are also requesting comment on the draft risk profile for pathogenic non-o157 shiga toxin-producing escherichia coli that we are making available at www.fsis.usda.gov pdf non0157stecriskprofile.pdf