Remember 2006 when suddenly everyone was afraid to eat spinach because there were reports of contaminated greens in a couple of taco restaurant chains.  It turned out to be contaminated iceberg lettuce that caused at least 276 cases of illness and 3 deaths.

How much good produce had to be thrown out because people were rejecting vegetables then – when they should have been boycotting their CAFO (concentrated animal feeding organizations)-grown meat.  Providing cheap meat is a very toxic process.

Our need for so much meat is poisoning us. (photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/toastforbrekkie/4483386068/ )

Here we go again.  This time in Germany where some infected vegetable matter, originally thought to come from sprouts, have killed 22 people and infected at least 2,200.

“I’m stating clearly that for the federal government, the fight against E. coli is the highest priority,” said Ilse Aigner, the German agricultural minister, adding that Germans should continue to avoid bean sprouts, tomatoes, lettuce and cucumbers until the source of the E. coli outbreak, which is among the deadliest in modern history, is found.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Europeans are avoiding fruits and vegetables and costing farmers $44 million a week.

The Journal concludes that researchers believe the strain behind the outbreak could have formed from a genetic recombination of two different E. coli bacteria, producing an unusually virulent bug, the World Health Organization said last week, citing preliminary genetic-sequencing data.

Irrigation patterns in a small part of the Westlands Water District in California's Central Valley. Vigorously growing crops are dark green. Light tan areas surrounding SkyTruth logo, on west side of Interstate 5 (Westside Freeway), are untilled grasslands. Dark brown areas on east side of the interstate are the pens and waste lagoons of the Harris Ranch Beef Co. feedlot, a Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation that "finishes" cattle for slaughter. (photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/skytruth/4306330065/

According to the Cornucopia Institute, this nightmare is a direct result of the overconsumption of meat and the demand for cheap meat that keeps cattle and other animals jammed in CAFO feedlots being force fed corn in crowded conditions.

These strains of E. coli, which may now have morphed into something that didn’t exist before and are highly toxic.  Cows evolved to eat grass, but on feedlots they are given high-grain rations that change the pH in their rumen.  This has been linked to the creation of new and more deadly E. coli pathogens.

These pathogens get from the cows’ rumens into us when their manure lands on plants that we eat.  It happened in 2006 when the containment “ponds” of liquid poop leaked into neighboring vegetable  fields.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency photo

Often that manure is spread deliberately.  Both conventional and organic agriculture use manure as fertilizer, but organic farms compost manure, which kills the pathogens.  Much conventional farming does not.  I suspect this is a particular issue with large agricultural enterprises that supply the grocery stores.

I prefer to get my vegetables from my local farmers’ market.  I do this mainly because I want to help strengthen the local food shed, but I get an added benefit that I know my food was not grown next to the CAFO that the agribusiness food grower also owns.

 Do you know who grew your food and where it comes from? 

Do you feel comfortable about that source?

Do you think you will still be getting your food from the same place in 10 years?

 Check out this chart compiled by Cornucopia Institute on recent sprout recalls in the U.S..

10 recalls – 9 because conventional sprouts tested positive for contamination.