It Ain't Hay. . .

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What would it take to get you to spend years of your life studying cow guts and what's in them? For a group of scientists at Cornell University in New York, the answer was simple: the chance to save hundreds of lives every year.

What these scientists look for in cow guts is Escherichia coli. Most types of E. coli are harmless and live in the digestive tracts of both cattle and humans without causing any problems. E. coli 0157:H7, however, is a killer. This bacteria lives and reproduces in the intestines of cattle. By the time the cattle reach the slaughterhouse, there may be as many as one million E. coli 0157:H7 in a single gram of feces. It doesn't take much to contaminate the beef, and that can put E. coli 0157:H7 in the human stomach.

To go back a bit...
Several generations ago, E. coli 0157:H7 was not a threat. It couldn't survive in strong acids, so it died when it entered a human stomach. Over the last 40 years, however, acid-resistant E. coli 0157:H7 has evolved. Now when a person eats contaminated meat, E. coli 0157:H7 survives its plunge into human stomach acid. Unfortunately, the human host may not.

Meanwhile, back at Cornell...
Recently Cornell scientists discovered that the old adage "You are what you eat" has a second verse. "You are what your host eats" is also true. They found out that when cattle are fed a diet of starchy grains, some undigested grain passes into the cow's intestines, where it ferments. This slightly acidic environment produces E. coli that feel right at home in acid. The result is acid-resistant E. coli . However, when cattle are fed on grasses, such as hay, fermentation is greatly reduced; so is the presence of acid-resistant E. coli. Cornell scientists believe that feeding cattle hay instead of grain for as few as five days before slaughter will significantly reduce the presence of acid-resistant E. coli 0157:H7. It is a simple discovery, but it could save hundreds of lives every year.

Scientists and food safetly experts are excited by this discovery. Switching cattle from a diet of grain to a diet of hay for a few days before slaughter is a relativly simple solution to a life-threatening problem. But first, someone had to do that basic research into cow guts and what's in them. And although the reward for this work "ain't hay," it's pretty sweet.

For more information and to see the scientists who worked on this project, visit the Cornell News Web site.

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