whats the big deal with the ecoli scare? aren't you supposed to wash your greens before eating anyway?

Answer 1

Yep. Except most green veggies are mostly water. It's the water used to grow the stuff that was tainted and it's inside the food. Washing wont help in that case.

Answer 2

In the case of the spinach, washing did not help. The e coli was in the spinach, not on it. The only way to deal with it safely was to cook it thoroughly, and traditional spinach salad uses lightly poached spinach. There was and is a clear and present danger.

As far as other aspects of the e coli scare are concerned, yes, people are supposed to wash their produce. However, that does not mean that everyone is actually doing it. In this day and age, when common sense has been thrown out the window, and lawsuits award huge sums for absurd reasons, no one is willing to stand up and state the obvious, that if you neglect to take prudent steps to protect yourself and your family, you get what you deserve. Nannyism has once again reared it's ugly head, and once again, countless numbers of people must suffer so that a few stupid individuals don't harm themselves.

It's only a matter of time until we are all required to wear lightning rods on our heads, so that we are safe from lightning strikes. After all, a case can be made that if we are not required to do so by law, we can sue the government for damages if we are so struck.

Answer 3

Washing won't help
The FDA's top food expert stressed the importance of stopping the bacterium at its source, since rinsing spinach won't eliminate the risk. "If you wash it, it is not going to get rid of it," said Robert Brackett, director of the agency's Center for Food Safety and Nutrition.

E. coli lives in the intestines of cattle and other animals and typically is spread through contamination by fecal material. Brackett said the use of manure as a fertilizer for produce typically consumed raw, such as spinach, is not in keeping with good agricultural practices.

"It is something we don't want to see," he told a food policy conference.

Meanwhile, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Safeway Inc., SuperValu Inc. and other major grocery chains stopped selling spinach, removing it from shelves and salad bars.

"We pulled everything that we have spinach in," said Dan Brettelle, manager of a Piggly Wiggly store in Columbia, South Carolina.

Consumer activist Barb Kowalcyk said fixing the nation's "fractured network" of food safety agencies could save lives. In 2001, her 2-year-old son, Kevin, died of E. coli, possibly after eating tainted ground beef.

"How can we improve communication between agencies? That needs to happen," the Loveland, Ohio, resident said.

Not all strains of E. coli cause illness: E. coli O157:H7, the strain involved in the current outbreak, was first recognized as a cause of illness in 1982. That strain causes an estimated 73,000 cases of infection, including 61 deaths, each year in the United States, according to the CDC.

When ingested, the bug can cause diarrhea, often with bloody stools. Most healthy adults can recover completely within a week, although some people -- including the very young and old -- can develop a form of kidney failure that often leads to death.

Sources of the bacterium include uncooked produce, raw milk, unpasteurized juice, contaminated water and meat, especially undercooked or raw hamburger.

Answer 4

I lived in Saudi Arabia for a brief period and we were given instructions when we moved there on how to properly clean our vegetables and fruit to kill the ecoli and other nasty stuff. We were told to wash the veggies and fruit in a sink with a Clorox solution and then rinse it with clear water.

Answer 5

yeah yellow cab, I expect to get a free dose of ecoli with my spinach. But seriously I don't think its too much to expect that food that I buy is healthy and free of disease.
I guess that doesnt suit the profit seeking supermarkets who are always forcing the farmers to reduce their costs and cut corners. USA is particuarly bad at considering consumers - having lived there for a year i found manufacturers unwilling to tell me even basic ingredients, as if it was breach of their right to free expression in adulterating the food. Can you believe even a healthy product like yoghurt was full of crap like thickeners containing wheat - nasty if you have a wheat allergy and it isn't on the label !!

Answer 6

That's my question, would washing them take care of the problem? And how much would you have to wash them, with water or with soap?

It's funny, but I've lived in Japan for 10 years. The eat raw fish, eggs, deer and cow and more! But it seems like they don't have these big scares like they do in the states. Why is that??????

Answer 7

washing doesn't guarantee the ecoli will be gone. For example, when it is in ground meat, only very high heat will kill it.

Answer 8

When my mother cooked greens, she always boiled them in salt water for about 10 minutes then drained and rinsed them before she seasoned and cooked them.

Answer 9

I don't think simply washing it will get rid of it. They don't even advise to boil it and eat it.

Answer 10

the e-coli bacteria gets itself into the cells of the plant, so really the only way to get rid of the bacteria is to get rid of the cells, but then you have powdered greens.