Overview
- The peer-reviewed findings, published in mBio, come from a George Washington University–Kaiser Permanente Southern California collaboration.
- Scientists genomically compared more than 2,300 E. coli-positive urine isolates with over 3,300 retail meat samples collected from 2017 to 2021 to estimate host origin.
- Poultry was the leading retail source, with E. coli detected most often in chicken and turkey, followed by lower rates in beef and pork.
- The study highlights disproportionate impacts on women and older adults and urges industry and regulators to improve safeguards such as leak‑proof packaging and better retail handling.
- Authors advise thorough cooking, strict separation of raw meat, and careful handwashing, and they call for additional research to refine attribution and assess national scope.