There are an estimated 76 million cases of foodborne illnesses in the U.S.A. every year, resulting in $5–17 billion in economic and productivity losses annually. Over 5000 deaths a year are caused by foodborne illnesses, one‐third of which can be attributed to meat and poultry products. Over the last 10 years, efforts have been made to ensure better meat safety and to control Escherichia coli O157:H7 contamination in beef carcasses and products. The classification of E. coli O157:H7 as an adulterant in raw beef products has prompted the investigation into better processing aids and intervention strategies to ensure meat safety. The vast majority of slaughter contamination originates from contact with fecally soiled hides during the dehiding process. There are many decontamination methods available to beef processors, and others are being investigated for their efficacy at inactivating pathogens. These include hide‐on decontamination, knife trimming, steam vacuuming, spray chilling and washing, lactoferricin B, steam pasteurization and irradiation. Organic acid spray washes remain to be among the most popular methods for beef carcass decontamination. However, acid tolerance may eventually render these sanitizers ineffective against E. coli O157:H7. Research shows that hide‐on decontamination may be better suited for preventing carcass contamination from soiled hides. Cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC) has had great success in laboratory and pilot plant studies for reducing contamination to carcasses during dehiding. Although CPC is not approved for use inside beef processing plants, its success in the laboratory and in the poultry industry provides the potential for its approval for application for beef. The overall reductions of any given decontamination method must be weighed against the cost of the method. Cost/benefit analysis shows that multihurdle methods of decontamination may be the most cost‐effective methods when compared to using a single intervention to achieve the same level of reductions. Irradiation, which has the highest inactivation rate of E. coli O157:H7 (5.2 log cfu/cm2), also incurs the highest costs in operation and installation fees. Therefore, using knife trimming in combination with another decontamination method is the most cost‐effective method at achieving food safety.

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