ALERT CUCUMBERS

[idun]

There are contaminated cucumbers from Spain that can cause severe diahorrea, there have even been deaths, I think in Germany.

Check the provenance of your cucumbers. Check the web to see where these are from.

[Gemonimo]

I heard on the news that the guilty cucumbers were from an organic farm[:-))]

[5-element]

They came from TWO separate locations and producers, which indicates that the contamination occurred elsewhere, later during transit and subsequent processing. Being grown organically, or not, had nothing to do with it, it was just the luck of the draw which consignments were affected.

It is unfortunate that organic produce was involved, as there will be no shortage of detractors who will say "Look, you see, organic produce is BAD!" Easy to believe, unless one knows the whole story.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2011/05/28/contaminated-cucumber-kills-5-as-three-new-e-coli-cases-are-treated-in-uk-115875-23161889/

[woolybanana]

Is the contamination removed by washing and peeling?

[5-element]

WB, I have been wondering the same thing... of course, cooking would destroy E. coli, but who wants cooked cucumbers (and tomatoes and lettuce?) in their salads? I thought that perhaps soaking for a short while in a vinegary solution, or.... I really wish we had some proper guidelines on this.[:'(]

edit: this is what I found:

Recent studies have shown that soaking in vinegar is a particularly effective way to reduce E. coli O157:H7 on fresh produce such as lettuce and apples. Soak in distilled white vinegar for three to five minutes, stirring occasionally. Rinse with clean tap water to remove vinegar flavor. Wash only what is needed immediately. Washing earlier could give the remaining bacteria time to grow again.

in http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/foodnut/09369.html

[5-element]

Incubation time, TEN DAYS!!!!! EEEEEEK![:'(]

[pachapapa]

H.U.S.

9 dead in Germany.

http://www.about-hus.com/

The Department of Homeland Security are alert.[:-))]

[5-element]

Three suspected cases in France.

Even more concerning, one German doctor claims that some of his patients, affected by this superbacterium, have not even eaten any cucumbers, so that there must be other sources than the Spanish cucumbers.

 Reinhard Brunkhorst, président de la Société allemande de néphrologie et praticien à Hanovre (Basse-Saxe), estime que «cette forme de la bactérie Eceh est beaucoup plus grave que la grippe porcine. «Il y a ici, les jeunes femmes âgées de 20 à 30 ans, qui étaient en parfaite santé» jusqu'ici. Parmi ses patientes, «certaines n'ont jamais mangé de concombres» Pour lui, il y a un autre vecteur. «C'est quelque chose d'absolument unique en Allemagne et probablement en Europe»,

http://www.leparisien.fr/societe/concombres-infectes-deux-lots-suspects-retires-du-marche-francais-28-05-2011-1471187.php

[cooperlola]

The verdict?

Not guilty.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/cucumbers-in-clear-ndash-so-what-is-causing-deadly-ecoli-outbreak-2291600.html

(Sorry folks, I just could not resist.)

[5-element]

That's right, cucumbers not guilty.

So where is it coming from? Source(s) still unknown, and meanwhile, so many very sick people, too many deaths, and nobody seems to know why.[:'(]

[woolybanana]

So, cucumbers can hold up their heads again, can be erect. A droopy cucumber is so sad!

[cooperlola]

A shame for me since cucumbers are second only to melons on my "most disgusting food on the planet" list, with lettuce a close third so avoiding these things has been a doddle.

 

Seriously though, quite 5E, as you had posted before, if it's not them then what is it?  Pretty scary. 

[idun]

I don't buy cucumber very often and for the very first time in a long long time I had bought one just over a week ago, just before all this kicked off.

When I went to throw it away yesterday, as it had hardly been touched, it was not floppy even, it had turned into a liquified mess, beurk!

So what is making all these people very ill and killing some? Seems that the reporting on french tv is far superieur to UK tv, who appear to be soccer obsessed. As I have said before french reporting is usually better and in depth when important things do not show France in a bad light.

 

Coops, you don't eat salads and you live in France!![:-))] I thought that they were obligatoire[;-)]. Like eating soup in Austria appears to be. [Www]

[cooperlola]

[quote user="idun"]

 

Coops, you don't eat salads and you live in France!![:-))]  [/quote]Nope.  The only raw food I eat is beef.[:D]

[idun]

[:D][:D][:D]

[5-element]

[quote user="cooperlola"]

Seriously though, quite 5E, as you had posted before, if it's not them then what is it?  Pretty scary. 

[/quote]

It is very scary, since they are not closer to identifying the origin of that superbacterium, except that it does seem to be in Germany.

It was very unusual to see cucumbers and salad items as being the culprits: usually, it is since eggs, dairy and raw meat. So, Coops, watch it when you have tartare, or carpaccio, and make sure you cook your steak haché thoroughly. As for charcuterie, rillettes or pâté...very dodgy!

Still, the French government issued some strict guidelines which should make us all much safer. Such as, wash your hands after you go to the toilet...

[idun]

I know that there have been outbreaks of nasty things in the USA in the past, once with strawberries, if the old brain is not misremembering.

 

 

[Alan Zoff]

One thing this episode has highlighted (apart from the tendency to jump to false conclusions before all the evidence is available) is the need to wash fruit and vege before eating.

It was to say the least off-putting to be reminded that the average "fresh" item picked up in a shop has been picked up by lots of other people first, some of whom might not be too fussy about personal hygiene. Then there are crates of vege which have rats and mice crawling over them while in transit, the rodents peeing and defacating freely as they go. Even incidents of humans deliberately peeing onto crates if they are not overly keen on the people to whom the produce is being sent.

In other words, we are often eating contaminated food which for the most part leads to no more than a little unpleasantness but can occasionally be a lot more serious.

Bon appetit.

[Jon02]

OK but how does one 'process' a cucumber?

[Christine Animal]

What's this now then?  

"La victime, commercial de profession, avait consommé lundi midi un sandwich contenant de la salade et des tomates dans une brasserie de Saint-Dié, avant d'être violemment pris de maux de ventre, nausées et vomissements."

http://fr.news.yahoo.com/vosges-pr%C3%A9sence-bact%C3%A9rie-tueuse-sandwich-tu%C3%A9-homme-134039874.html

 

[Rabbie]

It now seems that this is new strain of E coli according to this report

[5-element]

The man in the Vosges area: it might be something different...or not?

Décès dans les Vosges :  E.coli 0104 n'a pas été décelée pour l'instant.  Les premiers résultats de l'autopsie d'un homme de 47 ans mort subitement lundi à Saint-Dié (Vosges), peu après avoir mangé un sandwich, n'ont pas permis d'établir les raisons du décès ni de confirmer l'éventuelle présence d'Eceh. «Pour le moment, nous n'avons aucune raison de croire qu'il s'agit de la bactérie tueuse qui sévit en Allemagne, mais nous ne sommes pas en mesure de l'exclure non plus», a expliqué à l'AFP le substitut du procureur d'Epinal, Jean Richert.

[Frederick]

Radio news reported Brussels now in a real panic because Russia has banned ALL salad crop imports from the EU ....they dont think that is a fair move ............Neither was a ban on British beef before all the full  facts were known about BSE .

 http://article.wn.com/view/2011/06/02/Russia_bans_EU_vegetables_due_to_Ecoli_fears_9/

[mint]

Nevermind the cucumbers, just watch out for the beansprouts!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/05/ecoli-beansprouts-identified-likely-source

[pachapapa]

Hate bean sprouts...disgusting flavour...prefer roquette.