E coli is a bacteria that grows in the gut of all animals, including humans, and is an important part of digestion.
I am not a farmer, but I do have a vegetable garden. If your point is that humans can introduce E coli bacteria into a growing area regardless of whether it's an organic farm or a non-organic farm, I think that's technically true. Fecal contamination is fecal contamination.
If the E coli that tainted the spinach recently came from humans, perhaps by contaminating the soil or similar, then I agree that this could happen in a non-organic farm, as well.
If the E coli came from improperly composted animal manure, this is not something used by non-organic farmers, as far as I know.
But perhaps Ish and Jim can enlighten me.
The E coli in question wasn't ordinary E coli, it was a "superbug". Ordinary E coli will give you diarrhea. This stuff killed people.
You probably ingest small amounts of E coli all the time without noticing it, from cooks and food servers who are less than 100% hygenic, including people in your own home, and even yourself. I try to remember to wash my hands thoroughly before preparing food, but sometimes I get distracted, and don't. If you wipe your nose, or wipe your eyes, or brush your hair off your forehead, you've just contaminated your hands again.
I've been wondering about the wisdom of relying on the cleanliness habits of people who are involved in preparing pre-washed salads and pre-cut vegetables, and this has tipped me over into thinking that I should probably wash bagged produce, just to be certain. |
