The post enclosing the views of David Pantriquin states that birds may
spread E coli 0157 by feeding on animal waste. I have been led to beleive
that bird feces are higly alkaline and E coli is killed by the alkaine
environment.Are there published studies showing that Ecoli 0157 spreads in
bird dropings? A most disturbing and provocative finding!
----- Original Message -----
From: "Andy Clark" <aclark@nal.usda.gov>
To: <sanet-mg@ces.ncsu.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, July 19, 2000 1:02 PM
Subject: FW: REDUCING RISKS FROM E.COLI 0157 ON THE ORGANIC FARM
> 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.
> >
>
> To Unsubscribe: Email majordomo@cals.ncsu.edu with the command
> "unsubscribe sanet-mg". If you receive the digest format, use the command
> "unsubscribe sanet-mg-digest".
> To Subscribe to Digest: Email majordomo@cals.ncsu.edu with the command
> "subscribe sanet-mg-digest".
>
> All messages to sanet-mg are archived at:
> http://www.sare.org/san/htdocs/hypermail
To Unsubscribe: Email majordomo@cals.ncsu.edu with the command
"unsubscribe sanet-mg". If you receive the digest format, use the command
"unsubscribe sanet-mg-digest".
To Subscribe to Digest: Email majordomo@cals.ncsu.edu with the command
"subscribe sanet-mg-digest".
All messages to sanet-mg are archived at:
http://www.sare.org/san/htdocs/hypermail
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jul 21 2000 - 09:00:34 EDT