Flash Post: Spinach and E. coli
Posted by StormWarning on 27 Sep 2006 at 02:23 pm | Tagged as: Current Affairs, Food and Drink, Opinions
Once again, thanks to my daily email from the Homeland Security Daily Newswire.
Contamination of leafy vegetables spurs new research
Children may have a good excuse these days not to eat their greens, and indeed any mother who insisted this week that their child eat spinach was certainly guilty of child endangerment, if not malicious assault. The recent discovery of E. coli in spinach has spurned new research into leafy vegetables as carriers of bacteria — a departure from the standard research course of investigating beef manufacturing processes. As anyone who has ever tried to wash spinach or lettuce knows, thorough cleaning can be difficult. (Orthodox Jews, however, concerned that their greens might contain unkosher insects, seem to manage the task). A new U.S. Department of Agriculture-funded (USDA) study at Ohio State is now underway to examine the issue and "is expected to find new ways to prevent foodborne-pathogen outbreaks in produce by targeting factors such as lesions caused by plant diseases, that may contribute to contamination of vegetables in the field and during transportation," the Cincinnati Post reported.
The whole article, E. coli outbreak spurs more research, is here.
Current Affairs, Opinions
