This post is from FSNet (Food Safety Network). More information about FSNet
can be found at http://www.plant.uoguelph.ca/safefood/
> -----Original Message-----
>
> From FSnet
>
> REDUCING RISKS FROM E.COLI 0157 ON THE ORGANIC FARM
> Summer 2000
> Eco-Farm & Garden
> http://www.cog.ca/efgsummer2000.htm
> David G. Patriquin*
> (Biology Department, Dalhousie University, Halifax, N.S.)
>
> Summary
> E. coli 0157 is a bacterial pathogen of the human intestinal tract which
> is
> carried in certain species of livestock and wildlife without ill-effect.
> Such
> organisms are termed zoonotics. Various types of Campylobacter and
> Salmonella are other major causes of food borne illness that like E. coli
> O157, are zoonotic in livestock and appear to have been on the increase in
> recent decades. E.coli O157 is particularly hazardous because of the very
> low
> number of organisms that can cause infection and because of serious
> complications that can result from infection, especially in infants and
> the
> elderly. As well as from contaminated food, E. coli O157 can be acquired
> through casual contact with manure and with fecal contaminated surfaces
> and
> water. Thus farm residents and workers should be aware of the nature of E.
> coli O157 and of personal measures they can take to reduce the risk of
> infection. Reducing the levels of zoonotics in farm animals is seen as a
> key
> component of strategies to reduce the occurrence of food borne infections
> generally. A number of the existing practices of organic farming could be
> expected to discriminate against E. coli O157. However, none can ensure
> its
> absence and the routes by which O157 moves into farms apply to organic
> farms, for example via birds that have been feeding on a farm with a high
> level
> of E. coli O157. Some provisional guidelines for reducing levels of E.
> coli
> O157 on organic farms and the risk to farm workers and residents are
> offered.
> They are pertinent also to gardeners who use manure or buy bulk compost.
>
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