What is causing e-coli to be found in so many foods?

Question

I really don't remember there being so many e-coli outbreaks 10 years ago... Why is it relatively common now?

Answer 1

It used to be put out by the media that certain vegetables were causing 'diarrhea' and other intestinal issues. Now it's called (rightfully so) e-coli. Vegetables are picked from the soil in fields. e-coli is a bacteria found in the HUMAN intestinal tract. Sort of sounds like 'people' are *cough* fertilizing the fields and the vegetables are getting the bacteria from the soil? That's just an opinion by a non-scientist..

Answer 2

Fifty or 75 years ago, people would get sick after eating a contaminated product, and hospitals would treat those affected with food poisoning. Nobody made the connection with other hospitals who may have been treating people in other areas for the same thing, from the same contaminated product.

With information being shared by hospitals, health departments, etc., and being picked up by news services so quickly, contaminated products can be identified early on and removed from the shelves, and the public is informed quickly.

There was probably e-coli outbreaks before, but communication was far more primitive than now.

Answer 3

We share communal food so often and we have a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables that are picked by people with not very sanitary habits.
Imagine if you are a migrant worker in a 100 acre field of broccoli. You have the choice of walking all the way back to the gate to use the port-a-John or to squat in the field and use dirt and some leaves to wipe.
Obviously, your hands are less than sanitary but you keep cutting the broccoli and putting it in the bin with all the rest.
Foods that have pits or multiple segments, like broccoli, berries, lettuces, etc. are the most likely to become infected with eColi because the perfunctory rinsing does not get into the crevices.

Answer 4

People not washing their hands, it is from manure. Basically we find ecoli in intestinal tracts. Outbreaks have been in hamburger and on field products such as spinah, here is how:


Cows have manure on them, for instance, when the hide is removed the dried particles of manure basically flakes on to the fat of the cow, if that is not removed properly by trimming or steam vacuuming, when the fat and trimmings are put into the meat for grinding into burger, you have contaminated meat.

Field crops it comes from animals or workers going "poo" on them and the picked crops not being washed, or pickers or food workers dirty hands.