In Ireland the Food Safety Authority has issued a 'strong warning' on the danger of potentially fatal E.coli in domestic minced beef and beefburgers, according to a report in the Irish Times.

The warning came after a one-year study of mince and beefburgers on sale in supermarkets and shops which found that on average 2.8 per cent of samples were contaminated with E.coli 0157:H7, sometimes at levels as high as 10,000 bacteria per gram of product.

In a statement issued on Tuesday Dr Patrick Wall, the authority's chief executive, said "an unacceptable share of the responsibility" for ensuring the safety of beef and mince was being placed on the consumer.

Dr Wall called for specialist processing and package-labelling to produce and identify products which have been rendered free from the particular strain of E.coli. He said the measures were particularly important to protect the more vulnerable, such as the elderly, the very young or those with compromised immune systems.

The bacteria can cause a wide range of symptoms including diarrhoea, sickness and kidney failure, and in the most severe cases can lead to death. It has also been known to be a cause of miscarriages in pregnant women.

The number of cases reported in the Irish Republic has risen steadily since 1996, when there were eight, to 52 in 2001.

Dr Wall said that the diligence of consumers, by cooking meat sufficiently to kill such bacteria, had helped to avoid the occurrence of even more outbreaks. However, he said the level of contamination posed a serious ongoing risk to consumers.

"The consumer is taking an unacceptable share of the responsibility to control this bacteria.

"It is only when everything that can be done is being done that it is reasonable to expect consumers to eliminate any residual risk by cooking in their kitchens," he said.

Recent research carried out in the UK has indicated that 44 per cent of herds in England and Wales carry the bacteria, sometimes as part of the gut, without making the livestock ill.

Dr Wall suggested that other means of eradicating the bacteria should be considered, should the presence of E. coli persist. He cited irradiation of meat as a proven process as well as precooked frozen beefburgers as two efficient means of eliminating pathogenic micro-organisms, and that such products should be clearly labelled to indicate the reduction of health risks.