How Dangerous is E. Coli?

News Type: Opinion — Seeded on Thu Dec 28, 2006 12:01 PM EST

Article Source: blog.ruhlman.com

business, health, food, nutrition, farming, beef, e-coli, spinach, taco-bell, lettuce, agri-business, ground-beef

Last fall after the second E. Coli on lettuce breakout, I wrote to the editor at the NYTimes with whom I work, suggesting that they address a specific angle of the issue: are the risks from E. Coli increasing, and are we likely to see a rise in illnesses. With the two recent cases, Taco Bell in New York and Taco John's in Iowa, and earlier ones this fall arising from sources outside the cattle industry where it had originally been dominant, it would seem yes.

Ground beef used to be the main cause of outbreaks. After the September outbreak I spoke with Richard Vergili, who teaches food safety at the CIA. What he said was, in effect, this is a Pandora's Box situation, one that's worse than what's generally being reported, especially, Vergilli said, if you buy into the fact that deer now carry the bactreria. "What makes this scary is that it's so virulent," he said, and, "It's the price we pay for wanting cheap food,...one more nail in the coffin of the small farmer."

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Michael Sautter's Column, All of Newsvine
Groups: Foodies!, Nutrition, Permaculture
Regions: United States

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{"commentId":449010,"authorDomain":"michaelsautter"}

Michael Sautter

I'm not a food scientist (and I have never played one on TV) but since E. Coli has killed people I would say it is pretty dangerous.

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2 votes

#1 - Thu Dec 28, 2006 12:34 PM EST

{"commentId":449715,"authorDomain":"kikaiju"}

kikaiju

E. Coli is dangerous only if you eat it. That sounds obvious but it is true: the stuff is not out hunting people, and it can be dealt with IF precautions are taken during food processing and food is properly cleaned and/or cooked.

The problems come from things like contaminated water being used in fields, and failure to clean and properly prepare the resulting foods. Of course, cutting corners saves money and that's all that matters when "We sell for less" (not better or good, just less) is THE thing that matters most to customers.

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2 votes

#2 - Thu Dec 28, 2006 8:42 PM EST

{"commentId":450192,"authorDomain":"vikibabbles"}

Viki Babbles Gonia

The father of one of my friends got e. coli from contaminated food in a restaurant a few years ago. He's been on the brink of death ever since--his kidneys keep shutting down, he needs a transplant but his health is so compromised in other ways, the risk is huge. It's very sad. He's only in his sixties, and he'll have to deal with this for the rest of his life (which might not be, unfortunately, a very long time. He's held on much longer than expected).

The restaurant chain is paying his medical expenses and he did receive a settlement, but that's little consolation when all you did was get a salad at some chain sit-down restaurant.

{"commentId":450192,"threadId":"64063","contentId":"498167","authorDomain":"vikibabbles"}

1 vote

#3 - Fri Dec 29, 2006 8:39 AM EST

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MICHAEL SAUTTER

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How Dangerous is E. Coli?

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