tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14483959.post115842081925121086..comments2023-06-12T10:10:22.578-05:00Comments on Random thoughts...: Spinach from our CSAMatthew Piettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15364262779927601187noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14483959.post-1159880547457266162006-10-03T08:02:00.000-05:002006-10-03T08:02:00.000-05:00E. coli is the result of fecal contamination. Sin...E. coli is the result of fecal contamination. Since E. coli is present in all mammalian intestines, if you use fertilizer containing animal waste, you will introduce E. coli. If you have animals roaming around in your gardens, you will likely have E. coli in your garden. For the vast majority of the time, we live happily and healthily with our E. coli, indeed not having E. coli inside you is unhealthy. Occasionally, E. coli will pick up a gene that causes it to make a particularly nasty toxin. Combined with the fact that you do not need much of a dose (MAY be as low as 10 organisms for high risk people) of this very bad E. coli O157, you will have an outbreak (like we just experienced). We tested the bagged, organic spinach that we happened to have in our refrigerator when the warning went out and even though we found plenty of bacteria, we did not find any E. coli. Note that even when you get "triple washed" produce (as was our spinach), they recommend rinsing before consuming. If E. coli O157 is present, just rinsing triple washed produce is very risky.Melaniehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14381863090071855046noreply@blogger.com