Unanswered Questions for Minister Ritz

[rkaiser]

Proactive vs. reactive, I totally agree. However educating the public is another story. They will educate themselves even if is is in 30 second media intervals. And a quick google search will support Iain's comments on the strain of ecoli we are dealing with.

Even the Romain lettuce recall blames good old cow shit and how are we going to argue that one..

[GaryE]

Thanks for the heads up and its good to check these things out GF but from the CFIA website, they post the following sources specific to E.coli O147:H7
Food commonly associated
•Beef, raw and undercooked, ground and whole cuts
•Unpasteurized apple juice or cider
•Unpasteurized (raw) milk and (raw) milk products, such as raw milk cheese
•Untreated drinking water
•Contaminated raw fruit and vegetables that are not cooked (including alfalfa and bean sprouts)

[rkaiser]

From wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escherichia_coli_O157:H7

While relatively uncommon, E. coli O157:H7 can naturally be found in the intestinal contents of some cattle.[15] Because ruminants lack a receptor for the toxin the bacteria produce, it does not cause disease in them and is considered commensal.

How does the water or the lettuce become contaminated Gary?

Don't get me wrong - I would rather the beef industry did not have to take full responsibility...

We could have a closer look at the rumen and why the environment in the barley or corn filled rumen is such a wonderful host for development of ecoli 0157 H7

[grassfarmer]

The finger of blame in this scientific paper on the
0157 H7 strain certainly implicates cattle as the
original source - as was my understanding. I just
don't think CFIA looked beyond the apparent cause to
the actual cause in their statement.

http://epirev.oxfordjournals.org/content/18/1/29.ful
l.pdf

[wilagro]

Hmmmm...that didn't seem to wrap correctly for me.

This worked okay for the E.coli info.

http://epirev.oxfordjournals.org/content/18/1/29.full.pdf

[grassfarmer]

All you "rappers" must have PCs, lol There seems to
be a consistent problem on this site with links posted
by a Mac not "wrapping" for a PC and visa versa.
Doesn't happen on other sites I post links on.

[wilagro]

We're poor, we have to settle for PCs...but thems the breaks.

[ASRG]

Only wealthy school teachers and rich landed gentry types can afford Macs......us poor peasants have to make do with PCs! LOL