E.COLI HAS US PASSING ON THE SALAD

There is still no solution to the mysterious E.coli bacteria outbreak in Europe. We don't know what the source was, but the main suspects are still cucumbers, lettuce and tomatoes.

People are getting nervous and forgoing their salad. First in Spain, now in other European countries as well, farmers are having to throw out their vegetable crops, or feed them to the goats and pigs. The market vendors are suffering too. The German government has advised people not to eat raw vegetables. That means no cucumber salad, no tomatoes on your sandwich, and no salads.

In Hamburg, the center of this deadly outbreak, the main market has few customers and sales have fallen. Even the U.S. military bases in Germany are pulling tomatoes, lettuce and cucumbers from the menus, salad bars and commissary shelves. And American Airlines has taken green salads off its menus on flights out of Europe.

But it's not just in Germany. People in other European countries are also being more cautious about fresh vegetables and especially the three main suspects. Even in Britain, farmers are having to discard tons of salad crops because of poor demand - not just of cucumbers, but also of lettuce, tomatoes - and even peppers. As of today, there have been at least 11 confirmed cases of this illness in the UK - four among visiting Germans, and the rest among Brits who recently visited Northern Germany, or, had close contact with someone from there.

Russia has gone so far as to ban import of all vegetables from Europe, which will also hit European farmers hard since it is a major market for their produce.

With all these bailouts and other problems, that's all the EU needed.
To your good health!

TSF

COULD TOMATOES OR LETTUCE ALSO BE CONTAMINATED?

The large outbreak of foodborne illness in Europe caused by Enterohemorrhagic E.coli 0104:H4 (EHEC) has been attributed to contaminated organic cucumbers imported from Spain. But keep an open mind. It could be another fresh vegetable as well, one such as tomatoes or lettuce.

In fact, German authorities have advised people to be careful when eating any of these vegetables raw. Why? Well, at least one study of women who had become ill (adult women are the main victims) found that a slightly higher percentage had eaten raw tomatoes than had eaten cucumbers in the preceding days. Lettuce also scored well in this survey.

So why were cucumbers pinpointed as the culprit vegetable? Actual testing did find the identical EHEC bacteria to be present in those imported whole cucumbers. To date, no testing has turned it up in tomatoes or in lettuce. But that doesn't mean it won't be found tomorrow, or in a week's time.

It wouldn't be the first time that the initial identification of a culprit food wasn't quite accurate. This happened with a large outbreak of Salmonella illnesses (Salmonellosis) in the United States in 2008. For weeks tomatoes were believed to be the cause, but later it was found that the culprit vegetable was Jalapeno and Serrano peppers (with "maybe" tomatoes as well). In other incidents strawberries have been blamed when it was actually raspberries. And so on. Nor is it impossible that more than one fresh vegetable is involved. This is quite likely if they came from the same farm or even the same area. The same improperly prepared organic fertilizer, E.coli 0104:H4 contaminated irrigation or processing water, or even packing ice could have been used.

So yes, if you live in Germany, and especially Northern Germany (where most of the illnesses have occurred) or are visiting there, I would avoid all three of these fresh vegetables for a little longer, until the investigation comes up with more answers. Washing may help a bit, but it may not work completely.

To your good health,
TSF

WHAT'S REALLY IN BAGGED SALADS?

Most of us eat bagged salads at least once in a while - me included. But I have decided to eat them less. Here's why.

First, it's that bacteria issue. Those bagged greens are not as clean as they look. In fact, outbreaks and recalls have persistently plagued the bagged salad industry. The research I have reviewed suggests that maybe at least 5% of pre-washed, bagged greens carry some bacteria. Maybe in half of these cases it's just some relatively harmless E.coli or Listeria (not the dangerous ones). The rest of the time, it's a few, or more than a few bacteria such as one of the Salmonella, Campylobacter, Listeria monocytogenes, or E.coli 0157, which can harm us, particularly if we are more vulnerable (like pregnant women, older adults). So much for triple washing!

I'm not saying that the fresh head of lettuce won't have microbes on it too, but at least it won't carry an added dose from sick plant workers or from badly sanitized equipment that may have got in during the washing, shredding and bagging process. I'll just stick to those "bad bugs" (and the not-so-bad ones) that were there when my lettuce was in the field.

There are also two other reasons that I am not too happy with the bagged stuff. First, those salad greens are usually washed in chlorinated water - a pretty strong solution, much stronger than our tap water. Personally, I'm not overly worried about chlorine, but my general philosophy is "the less chemicals the better." Besides, I have read a couple of opinion-pieces (note - I am not saying these are based on reliable research) about potentially unhealthy chlorination by-products. I also wonder why some European countries don't allow washing of fruits or vegetables with the high-chlorine solutions that U.S. and Canadian industry uses. Maybe they know something that we don't.

Then there is that "air" that's inside the bag. No - not normal air, it's Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP). The oxygen level has been lowered, and nitrogen or carbon dioxide has been added. This extends shelf life and prevents the salad leaves from turning brown. Alright, a little bit more of nitrogen or CO2 won't hurt us - at least as far as we know and it's for a good cause. I just don't like the idea. It's a personal preference. I want my salads to breathe normal air just like I do.

TSF