In the news is another outbreak of E coli 0157:H7 that has resulted in the recall of Nestle’s refrigerated cookie dough.
E coli 157 lives in the intestines of cattle. It is often found that the cause of E coli contamination in vegetables, as in the case of the spinach contamination of a few years ago, is due to contamination from cattle feces. E coli does not occur naturally in vegetables, it only gets on them due to contamination either in the fields, in processing, or distribution.
According to the USDA and Cornell scientists, grain based cattle diets promote the growth of E. coli. Cattle that eat a normal diet of grass or hay do not have the pathogenic strains of E coli like 0157:H7 that is responsible for more than 20,000 infections and 200 deaths each year in the United States.
If you don’t know much about modern agriculture you may be questioning “I though cows ate grass and hay?” Sadly, the truth is that modern factory farms consolidate cattle on cramped, grassless feed lots and feed them corn and other grains. Not only is this an inefficient use of food resources, as the grain and corn could be fed to people rather than cattle, but it directly leads to the E coli outbreaks as runoff from these huge factory farm feedlots contaminates neighboring properties which may be growing vegetables or other food crops.
In the slaughterhouses oftentimes the carcasses of the butchered cows become contaminated with E coli laden feces and subsequently cause E coli illness in humans. This is ironic when one considers that the stool and urine of cows, when fed a normal diet, i.e. grass, is actually antiseptic; when mistreated and abused the cow’s manure becomes a source of food contamination and illness.
Thanks for reading.
Love Life! Love animals, don’t eat them.
Mark Fergusson