Ireland has become a centre of excellence for study of the dangerous pathogen, E.coli 0157:H7, which is a growing problem in the developed world.
A team of scientists led by Dr Geraldine Duffy, head of the food safety department at Teagasc's Ashtown Food Research Centre in Dublin, is leading international studies of the bacteria.
Food poisoning from the bacteria has serious implications for the old and very young, and 10 per cent of those exposed to it suffer kidney failure.
According to Dr Duffy, the centre has been asked at least a dozen times so far this year to help track down the source of the bug when outbreaks happened abroad.
Cattle and beef are recognised as a significant source of E.coli 0157:H7 as it occurs naturally in the intestines of cattle.
Irish research found that the bacteria was prevalent on 7.3 per cent of the hides of cattle presented for slaughter, while 2.5 per cent had the bacteria in their gut.
"We were very lucky insofar as our initial research programmes attracted a great deal of EU finance when the food scare began," said Dr Duffy last week while attending the International Congress of Meat Science and Technology at University College Dublin.
Dr Duffy, a speaker at the conference which was attended by delegates from more than 50 countries, said E.coli 0157:H7 had caused multiples of deaths around the globe.
"People are most likely to remember the deaths in Scotland in the 1990s, which sparked off all the interest in it," she said.
She first found evidence of the bacteria in Ireland in salami for a study she carried out in the 1990s. Her work in the area has attracted a great deal of interest from the industry.
In the latest development, she and her team at Teagasc and UCD have created a quantitative risk assessment computer model which predicts the risk to human consumers of contracting E.coli 0157:H7 in beef burgers prepared and consumed at home.
This programme found that one beef burger in every one million consumed at home in Ireland could, in theory, cause serious food poisoning.
While this incidence was relatively low, the severity of the illness caused by it indicated that the risk needed to be lowered even further to protect the consumer. There are 60-80 cases here each year.
The team under Dr Duffy is currently engaged in studies as to why Scotland should have such a high rate of the bacteria.
"The bacteria has been found all over the world but for some reason it has a higher incidence in Scotland and all scientists are attempting to find out why that is so," she said.