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ALERT CUCUMBERS


idun

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Unfortunately. not just bean sprouts (which come from mung beans), but any kind of sprouts are suspect as long as the final culprit amongst sprouts has not been identified. As far as I understand, it could come from any one of the seeds that are used for sprouting: alfalfa, lentils, fenugreek, cress, beetroot, etc...

"The largest outbreak linked to sprouts took place in Japan in 1996, when 6,000 people got sick and 17 died after eating radish sprouts contaminated with E.coli O157: H7."

Ironically,  amidst the cucumber/lettuce/tomato warnings, I re-started sprouting my own seeds just to be safe last week, and they are almost ready. Now I am just looking at them and wondering if they could turn into killers. So out they will go onto the compost heap (unless I cook them!) and I will go and buy salad ingredients as before - except sprouts!

 

edit:    AND...some journalists should really check their facts thoroughly before they write: this is a common enough mistake, to believe that bean shoots come from soya beans. THEY DO NOT! They come from mung beans! So now, we have soja implicated, erroneously. GRRRRR!!!!

 http://www.lepoint.fr/sante/e-coli-des-graines-germees-pourraient-etre-a-l-origine-de-l-epidemie-05-06-2011-1338641_40.php

 

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Had beansprouts from Lidl on saturday night in stirfry - these were in a jar and not a recent purchase and we are fine plus they don't come from Germany anyway. My son is back at local Lidl for the summer (his third year with them) and all last week customers were asking where the fresh salad produce comes from, which luckily living in the main salad producing belt for France,are all local so they are safe with no outbreaks here in the west.
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I have "grown" my own sprouts for many years, which is easy to do in a jar. Not just mung beans, but cress as you say Andy, also lentils, fenugreek, alfalfa, radish, beetroot,  sunflower, wheat, etc... Looks like the end of "pousses germées", until the exact source can be located with absolute precision. Until then, we won't know if it is the water, the seeds themselves, or some fertiliser that is used commercially?? (you only need water if you grow your own).

I have just bought 3 cucumbers, as I feel this is probably the safest salad vegetable around at the moment.[:)]

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Not that the media have again managed to affect rational human beings with their soon to be chip paper. So much for the easily traceable paperwork insisted by the EU which would have isolated the source very quickly mind you that doesn't sell news papers or fill broadcasts, those sad lot feed off bad news like bacteria anyway. Just wash all your produce in a mild bleach and water solution, just like the professional pre packed salad providers do. E coli is almost certainly from the fertiliser used as it is carried in animals gut and feces.  Your salad is usually washed in a solution roughly 5 times stronger than what is used to disinfect swimming pools. 

Crikey, I thought I was ok with F.e.c.e.s

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And it's taken me YEARS to get to not mind eating vegetables raw as in salads!

Coops, are you out there?  Seems like you have the right idea, leaving all salad ingredients out of your diet!  Mind you, I suggest you now no longer put them on poor Mr Coops' plate instead![:-))]

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"So much for the easily traceable paperwork insisted by the EU which would have isolated the source very quickly"

 

I think you are being alittle unfair on the EU (and German) authorities.

 

Bear in mind that the infection takes around 8 days to incubate - and at the start at least, probably another 4-5 days tor easlise that this is not just another jippy tummy.  Now all the victim (who probably is not feeling overly bright and perky) has to do is to remember every single thing they had to eat and drink in the last 2 weeks, and where they got it from.

 

If it does turn out to be the sprouted seeds then this could have been a sprinking on the lettuce leaf that was put into a wurst (sausage) sandwich bought from a baker.

 

Needles and haystacks spring to mind.  This has not been like a cluster of victims all of whom shopped at the same butcher, but a lot broader in terms of geographical spread.

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[quote user="andyh4"]

"So much for the easily traceable paperwork insisted by the EU which would have isolated the source very quickly"

 

I think you are being alittle unfair on the EU (and German) authorities.

 

Bear in mind that the infection takes around 8 days to incubate - and at the start at least, probably another 4-5 days tor easlise that this is not just another jippy tummy.  Now all the victim (who probably is not feeling overly bright and perky) has to do is to remember every single thing they had to eat and drink in the last 2 weeks, and where they got it from.

 

If it does turn out to be the sprouted seeds then this could have been a sprinking on the lettuce leaf that was put into a wurst (sausage) sandwich bought from a baker.

 

Needles and haystacks spring to mind.  This has not been like a cluster of victims all of whom shopped at the same butcher, but a lot broader in terms of geographical spread.

[/quote]

So we are looking for a Broad bean now? [Www][:)]

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Except that this morning it is claimed that the formerly implicated farm may indeed have been "a" source.

Three of the workers there fell foul of the bug and there is therefore the unstated implication that the farm may have been a secondary source of infection due to poor personal hygene. 

 

I am thinking that we may never know the original source - perhaps it was the E Cucumber after all.

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I know what you mean, Debbie. I now started looking at my own sprouts with suspicion, and even threw away some sprouted lentils. Are we doomed to cooking everything now? But then, it might eventually be discovered that this e.coli outbreak came from water, or mushrooms, or anything that would normally be thought to be beyond all suspicion! Or it might be ONE individual (or two individuals?) carrier with more than objectionable hygiene - or even bad intentions. It could be nothing to do with vegetables, it could be dairy or meat product.

All I hope is that the source will eventually be found, so that we know what to avoid, now we are following hygiene guidelines with renewed vigour!

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Hygiene is very poor I find here in France. Just look at the number of men who have a pee outside and then go back to doing what they were before and no hand washing or the visitors that use your loo and although they now flush as I have insisted on that from day one, they never use the bathroom next door to wash their hand where there is soap and towels waiting. You can see how germs are so easily transferred by ignorance or laziness of a few simple practices.
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And what better manner of getting the all important CO2 activating vector.?

The fermentation process in a BioGaz installation.

And what better manner of getting the ECEH on your bean sprouts?

Feed them the waste material from the fermentation in the Ecologically friendly BioGaz installation.

[:D]

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