Re: Composting manure


"Farm1" <please@askifyouwannaknow> wrote in message
news:45a9cf04$0$27933$5a62ac22@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"diddy" <diddy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
in thread news:CY1qh.428$u8.233@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx:
"0tterbot"

you are, of course, aware that soil contains a great many things
you
probably wouldn't want to eat in large quantities, e-coli being
just
one of them.

e-coli tainted food doesn't get that way during the _growing_
process,
fertilisers or no. otherwise we'd be eating all sorts!!
kylie

Actually, in the case of the spinach it did. The fertilizer was
overapplied
and the E-Coli was IN the spinach and didn't wash off.

I was fascinated by this claim as I've never heard of any claim that
E. coli could actually be INSIDE a plant and I've gardened and been an
avid reader of all things gardening for more years than I care to
remember.

E. coli is a normal resident of the gut flora of mammals, and, since
vegetable don't have guts then how could it be possible for E.coli to
be found IN a vegetable???? It may be ON a vegetable but IN
it??????????? I thought this was such a truly weird claim that I just
had to do some googling.

I checked a lot of US sites including the CDC (sloppy writers - why is
the art of clear, unambiguous writing so rare these days!) that site
mentions e. coli in "bagged spinach" which of course is not the same
as "in the spinach". It implies a contamination of the bagged product
with E. coli. Later mention is made of how E. coli has previously
been a problem on lettuce but it goes on to mention that washed
lettuce, where the bag records that it is washed, would be OK. No
help at the CDC site, so I moved on.

The best sirte I could find was this one:
http://www.dmaonline.org/fppublic/connect73.html
Where the nearest comment to e. coli actually being "in the spinach",
is as follows:
Quote, "the FDA issued an advisory warning consumers throughout the
country not to eat any bagged spinach products. Frozen and canned
spinach were not affected by the advisory, because these products
receive processing treatment that would destroy bacteria. FDA
officials also noted that washing spinach would not be an effective
step in making it safe, because bacteria could get inside the leaves."
end quote.

I did a lot of research on this trying to convince my county extension agent
that it is perfectly safe and even beneficial to allow chickens to clean up
fallen blueberries during blueberry season. I found this

http://aem.asm.org/cgi/reprint/69/7/3687.pdf

that indicates clearly (p 4 left hand column, 4th paragraph or so) that
salmonella can be taken into the flesh of fruit. However, given the
differences between e.coli and salmonella elaborated in the article, it
seems less likely that internal e.coli contamination will occur. Also,
given the thoroughness of the article, I'd have expected that they would
have mentioned it if it was at all likely.

Hint for the future: Scholar.google.com is probably the best place to look
for this type of information.

-Amy


.

Relevant Pages

  • Safety advocates, growers debate produce rules
    ... SAN FRANCISCO - As illnesses mount from tainted California spinach, ... Growers and packers in the $1.7-billion-a-year spinach and lettuce ... E. coli outbreaks in the USA. ... food safety director at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, ...
    (sci.med.nutrition)
  • 94 people ill from E. coli in 20 states
    ... An E. coli outbreak that was first identified in Wisconsin and appears ... linked to bagged spinach had spread to 20 states by Friday, ... The day after health officials announced the outbreak, ...
    (alt.true-crime)
  • OT: But I live on raw spinach!
    ... WASHINGTON - An outbreak of E. coli in eight states has left at least one person dead and 50 others sick, federal health officials said Thursday in warning consumers nationwide not to eat bagged fresh spinach. ... The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Wisconsin health officials alerted the FDA about the outbreak Wednesday. ...
    (alt.support.stop-smoking)
  • Re: Composting manure
    ... E. coli is a normal resident of the gut flora of mammals, and, since ... coli in "bagged spinach" which of course is not the same ... receive processing treatment that would destroy bacteria. ... Quote "Unless there is a cut in the meat, ...
    (sci.agriculture.poultry)
  • Re: Confused again
    ... Much of the bagged spinach I see comes in a bag labeled ... I buy bags of spinach or baby spinach to sautee all the time. ... Bagged spinach is for salads! ...
    (alt.support.diabetes)