"Bob" > wrote in message ...
>
> Excerpts from http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2006/1016/048a.html
>
>
> The outcome of this spinach misfortune may be an expensive reform of
> the bagged-salad business, which generates annual sales of $2.5
> billion.

The last I heard, the problem was traced to polluted irrigation water
and had nothing to do with the fact that the spinach was in a bag.
The contamination was inside the spinach leaves and could not have
been washed away even if it were sold unpackaged at a farmer's market.

> Several preventive measures are possible. One is to mandate that salad
> packers douse the leaves with chlorine solution, but Natural Selection
> does that. Another approach is to try to displace O157:H7 in farm
> animals, whose manure can be spread to nearby farmland. Many cows are
> already fed bacteria much like those in yogurt that reduce the amount
> of O157:H7 in manure.


Oh great. So it's ok to let poop get in the food, as long as it's poop
that's good for you.

Don