E-coli organic veggie irony

[samak]

Does anyone else find it grimly ironic that an organic vegetable farm was the source of the recent e-coli outbreak ?

[Gromit]

So Spanish Cucumbers get the blame and no one is much bothered.

Switch the blame to organic bean sprouts and it is suddenly its significant.

Meanwhile, the German Authorities have narrowed down the outbreak to bean sprouts. Only problem is, all the samples taken so far at the farm have come back negative for E.Coli.

[samak]

I understand the latest samples has come back positive - read my earlier post.

[237SJ]

I`ve always had the feeling it might be something in the soil. I`ve always avoided low growing fruit that draws a lot of water up from the ground (such as melon) when in places like India for that reason. Cucumbers, bean sprouts etc are high in water. Just a thought.

[Sqad]

Gromit

<<<<<So Spanish Cucumbers get the blame and no one is much bothered. <<<<<

The Spanish are,,,they are bloody livid...incensed.......they are looking for compensation form the Germans through the courts.

[samak]

And Russia temporarily banned ALL veggies from the EU, not just cucumbers or sprouts. They seemed a bit bothered.

[boxtops]

I don't think it's ironic at all. The Spanish authorities are going to sue, I don't think we've heard yet whether the outbreak at the farm arose simply because they didn't operate rigorous enough hygiene standards. It amazes me how many people still don't wash their hands when they have been to the toilet, it could be something as simple as that?

[RATTER15]

I think it has been proven over and over that organic food actually has no benefits over Non-organic apart from preference.

I certainly know that where I worked all the cereal grain was sprayed with chemical to kill weevil.

it was certainly not approved to be used on organic produce.

[samak]

I think you're right Ratter. The organic industry seems to be more of a triumph of marketing over science.

[rov1100]

I must admit I was unaware that it was an organic farm for the source. Don't they use human excrement to fertilize the crops?

[rov1100]

Its enough to put people off organic foods. I thought they only did this in third world countries.

http://www.worldwatch.org/node/5394

[Gromit]

Organic farmers in the UK (And Germany) are not allowed to use Human Excrement as fertiliser.

They use animal manure like farmers did for centuries before chemical fertilisers were invented.

[samak]

Thanks for the clarification Gromit; I suspect most of us didn't know that.

So maybe it came from animal manure then. If so, I don't feel any better about it.

[rov1100]

It may be hearsay evidence but who am I to argue with this comment:

///I know that in Germany, local farmers use human feces to fertilize their crops. While my father stationed in Germany, he took us to a German farm. The toilet was shaped differently, there was a platform that caught the human feces. The farmer instructed us to use a spatcula instrument to scoop out the poop, and put it in this bucket. The farmer told us kids that it is used to fertilize the crops. I can say this...Germany sure does have the greenest grass I've ever saw.///

[jomifl]

The germanic countries do seem to have a bit of an obsession with faeces..They have 'platform' WC bowls in holland too, My god don't the loos reek.