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E. Coli Outbreak on Bagged Spinach

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Irritable Bowel Syndrome
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Posted 9/15/2006 3:16 PM (GMT 0)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14841731/

This follows an e. coli outbreak in bagged pre-cut lettuce not too long ago.  Long story short, don't eat vegetables that aren't out loose and fresh.  And really anybody only ought to eat produce grown in a first world country--preferably locally.  I don't want to disparge other countries, but the US and the EU and UK all have high standards of cleanliness for their agriculture and produce (like it's illegal to use human waste as a fertilizer--which, I believe, is the source of e.coli on vegetables). 

Anybody who eats bagged lettuces and spinaches frequently or in the recent past might ought to get checked for e.coli and/or parasites; that may be the cause of your IBS. 

Posted 9/16/2006 2:10 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks for sharing...
Posted 9/16/2006 3:02 AM (GMT 0)
Why would the bagged stuff be any worse than loose? I know the two outbreaks were in bagged but I wonder why.

Posted 9/18/2006 2:32 PM (GMT 0)
The fact that it's sealed up in a bag may make the e.coli multiply more effectively. Most veggies hanging out loose in the produce section are being constantly misted with water--which, in effect, is constantly washing them off. But there was an outbreak--I think of e.coli--a few years back with green onions from Mexico. And they're always sold loose. I guess a lot of it depends on if a certain company or companies buys all of their produce from one contaminated farm. They're already warning people that the e.coli won't wash off the spinach, so I guess even if they wash the veggies before they ship and/or pack them, it's still nearly impossible to get rid of.
Posted 9/18/2006 2:33 PM (GMT 0)
Oh, and I heard on the radio this morning that it's even bigger than they thought. They have as many as 109 suspected cases and 2 suspected deaths.
Posted 9/20/2006 2:36 PM (GMT 0)
I was wrong; the contaminated spinach is believed to have come from California, in a region where it frequently floods (and they draw their irrigtion wter from the rivers) and the river system has been known to contain e.coli before.

So much for the FDA and American government taking care of us. I think just as big a question as where the infected food came from is why is there that much raw sewage in the river? California is supposed to have some of the most stringent pollution laws.
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