Quote:

A food poisoning bug found in cucumbers has killed 14 and made over 400 people ill in Germany. Europeans have traded blame over the source of the deadly E.coli outbreak but the pathogen has been identified on cucumbers imported from Spain - and it is feared tomatoes and lettuce could be affected too. Russia has now banned imports of some fresh vegetables from Spain and Germany out of fear they could be contaminated.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz1NvboK7cj

Number revised to 16 :(

So sad.

I'll have to ask my Dad and Grandma what the news is saying over there.

It's actually pretty scary. Today we heard the news that the outbreak aparently isn't coming from spanish cucumbers and no one knows where it's coming from. It's hard going grocery shopping because you're constantly thinking "Will this hurt my family?"

The strain of EHEC that was found in the cucumbers is not the same strain that is being found in the sick.

As of now we only eat salad out of our garden. We haven't bought anymore tomatoes since this started. We ate the last ones 2 days ago - made sure to cook them up good.

How awful!! It really scares me to think that just eating a vegetable can kill you!!

Even organic veggies aren't safe.

This is scary stuff

Are these people eating cukes & not peeling them? E coli sound like its on the outside.
Or is this in the flesh?

Am eating cukes like crazy right now & they are the euro (persian) type. I'm sure ours are from CA or Mexico, but this problem could spread.

^ Yes, from my understanding the e coli infection would be on the outside of the produce, but sometimes even washing well will not eliminate it all. And if the outside is contaminated, it is that much easier to contaminate the inside as well from knives or the peeling touching the flesh after it is peeled. Washing with water and bleach is supposed to be the best bet to remove it, but how many people actually do that? It is so scary because contamination can happen at literally any point along the way from farm to middle-man to grocers. My heart goes out to those who have lost someone to this outbreak.

Originally Posted by Vegas Long Legs

Are these people eating cukes & not peeling them? E coli sound like its on the outside. Or is this in the flesh? Am eating cukes like crazy right now & they are the euro (persian) type. I'm sure ours are from CA or Mexico, but this problem could spread.

Apparently not just cucumbers. Based on info released yesterday the infections arent coming from cucumbers.

If you are preparing the food yourself, then you have control over how clean your veggies are. On the news they stated that a few people who got sick all ate from the same work-cafeteria. Theoretically the infection could come from anywhere. A raw cucumber, from the knife used to cut the cucumber (or tomato, etc) that hadnt been properly washed after cutting meat...

This is really scary, apparently there have been 2 cases in my country already so it's spreading. Right now I only eat veggies from our garden.

I heard on the news if you cook your vegetables that that's basically the only way to get rid of the bacteria because it can't survive in very hot temperatures? I never believed that it's spanish cucumbers because there are no e.coli cases in Spain.

This is all just sad ... I hope they'll find the cause and a treatment for the infected ppl asap.

The number of reported cases is exploding here in Germany. 200 new cases in the north of Germany.

This is so scary!

The more I read about this story, the more I think about a biological terrorist attack. I have not seen any report that this outbreak might have been caused by someone purposefully contaminating produce, so I am assuming that this angle has already been ruled out.

Originally Posted by HauteMama

^ Yes, from my understanding the e coli infection would be on the outside of the produce, but sometimes even washing well will not eliminate it all. And if the outside is contaminated, it is that much easier to contaminate the inside as well from knives or the peeling touching the flesh after it is peeled. Washing with water and bleach is supposed to be the best bet to remove it, but how many people actually do that? It is so scary because contamination can happen at literally any point along the way from farm to middle-man to grocers. My heart goes out to those who have lost someone to this outbreak.

You are correct. I also feel so sorry for those people and their families.