Text 5817, 97 rader
Skriven 2006-09-24 18:59:00 av JOAN MACDIARMID (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av DAVE SACERDOTE
Ärende: shrimp etc. 289
=======================
 Hi, Dave,

 ML> So they found a bag of Dole spinach with E. coli in it.
 ML> So probably some unfortunate minimum wager was forbidden from
 ML> taking a bathroom break and crapped in the field instead.
 ML> So the entire spinach industry has been crippled.

 DS> The investigators are checking the water supply also; they feel
 DS> there might have been some contaminated runoff.  (That's not to
 DS> say that there was no crapping in the field.)

 I'm not an expert, but I think this shouldn't have much to
 do with personal worker behavior. The e coli bacterium
 is sort of native to all of our guts, and probably to most
 mammals' if not all animals. And usually it is harmless
 to all of us. But a particular strain seems to have arisen
 which is quite toxic to humans (forgot the designation),
 but maybe not to many other species, especially cattle. I
 think most cases of this have had bovine origins, like
 the apple-juice case several years ago when some wind-falls
 were used from an orchard in which a few cattle grazed.
 If a worker could have been at fault, he would have been one
 sick worker already and probably unable to work in the first
 place. I would look more toward irrigation water taken
 from downstream of a cow pasture after a heavy rain, like
 after the remnants of Pacific Hurricane John swept up into
 California.

 ML> P.S. Does anyone know how damaged the person who died from
 ML> diarrhea was beforehand?

 DS> The number is up now; there was an 86yo woman with atherosclerotic
 DS> vascular disease in Maryland who died, and a 23-mo toddler in Ohio,
 DS> but from what I hear other deaths are being investigated.

 Both rather vulnerable to harm due to either impaired or
 rather undeveloped immune systems.

 DS> So, is spinach unsafe? Is there a temperature at which e. coli is
 DS> killed and the toxin destroyed?

 I would expect bringing the spinach to a full boil for
 a minute would suffice. I don't think any e coli strain
 generates a persistent toxin comparable to botulin. They
 just make you sick while living their merry lives in your
 guts!

 And spinach isn't unsafe per se, of course. You take
 some chances with any uncooked vegetable or meat, I guess,
 but that's life. (I wonder whether, if humans had always
 eaten vegetables only raw, we might not be as resistant
 as cattle to this variant. Cattle of course eat
 everything raw, and as this e coli varient evolved,
 would have developed defenses in their immune systems.
 Now we humans come along and start eating salads of raw
 vegetables we had most often cooked to sterility, and
 our immune systems are shocked to find pathogens they
 don't know.)

MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.05

      Title: Spinach Balls
 Categories: Snacks
      Yield: 1 Recipe

     20 oz Frozen chopped spinach
    1/4 c  Finely chopped onion
      2 c  Herb seasoned stuffing mix
      1 c  Grated parmesan cheese
      5 ea Eggs, beaten
    3/4 c  Butter or
           -margarine, softened
      1 ds Garlic salt
      1 ds Onion juice
      1 ds Cayenne pepper
      1 ea Salt to taste

  Cook spinach according to package directions and drain well, then
  squeeze dry. Combine all ingredients, mixing well. (It's easiest to
  use your hands.) Form into 1/2-inch balls and freeze on baking sheets
  until firm. Then place in freezer bag to store. To serve, bake frozen
  balls 15 minutes at 350 F. Serve with a curry, mustard or cocktail
  sauce.

  [J's note: I've tried these and they're pretty good, if greasy. It's
  nice to do the fixing at one time and the baking just before the
  party.]

  From a newspaper article by Felicia Gressette. Typed for you by Joan
  MacDiarmid.

MMMMM

 Joan MacDiarmid
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