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Honored Contributor
Posts: 18,415
Registered: ‎11-25-2011

@Sooner wrote:

@sidsmom You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know that people working on farms, picking product, handling product and doing farm work in the fields don't have proper bathroom facilities for hand washing.  

 

You don't have to have a government report to know that animals infect product in the field, or that people go to the bathroom alongside produce and that muddy work boots pick up things.

 

So that being said, I see no point in further posting on this thread because we've established what we ALL need to establish haven't we?  Enough said. 


Wow....that’s a “Dog Whistle” blaring loud.

I’m disheartened many people are totally ignorant on this issue.

Sad when people want to make an innocent, hard-working field worker

the evil....when there has not been once single case of this happening.

 

Stop spreading myths.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 32,483
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

@sidsmom wrote:

@Sooner wrote:

@sidsmom You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know that people working on farms, picking product, handling product and doing farm work in the fields don't have proper bathroom facilities for hand washing.  

 

You don't have to have a government report to know that animals infect product in the field, or that people go to the bathroom alongside produce and that muddy work boots pick up things.

 

So that being said, I see no point in further posting on this thread because we've established what we ALL need to establish haven't we?  Enough said. 


Wow....that’s a “Dog Whistle” blaring loud.

I’m disheartened many people are totally ignorant on this issue.

Sad when people want to make an innocent, hard-working field worker

the evil....when there has not been once single case of this happening.

 

Stop spreading myths.


Since when is it "evil" to have to go to the bathroom?  Even in a field I fail to see this as an "evil" act.  Nobody is throwing shade on farm workers!  

Honored Contributor
Posts: 17,739
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

It isn't the workers fault, it is down to the growers

 

snip

 

To investigate conditions in the fields, lawyers from California Rural Legal Assistance, accompanied by a Times reporter and photographer, recently visited eight asparagus fields, including four with previously known violations and four selected at random, in the Stockton area.

Eight Fields Visited

Some had toilets. A few had drinking water, but most provided no disposable cups. In those instances, workers drank from a common cup, raising the possibility of transferring infectious diseases. None of the farmers had provided washing water.

At one field, workers said they had been cutting asparagus for 15 days and had seen neither a toilet nor a government inspector. Asked where they relieved themselves, one remarked, "We have the whole field." The men did not speak English and declined to provide their names because of fear of reprisals from their employer.

At another field, a worker was observed defecating in a nearby ditch. The foreman said he had worked at the ranch for eight years and had never seen a toilet there, even though California law (unlike federal law) has required field toilets since 1965. At yet another field, there was no toilet for a crew of 50 workers, several of them women, whose English was limited to telling a reporter they were Laotian immigrants.

Representatives of California Rural Legal Assistance, the United Farm Workers Union and other advocacy groups say this kind of grower disregard of the law is common in California, Texas, Florida, New York and other agricultural states.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 13,913
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Ahhh, yet another benefit of quitting eating beef decades ago.

 

 

 

hckynut

hckynut(john)
Honored Contributor
Posts: 12,793
Registered: ‎11-16-2014

@hckynut wrote:

Ahhh, yet another benefit of quitting eating beef decades ago.

 

 

 

hckynut


Hi @hckynut . I don't eat beef either but I do eat cheese and apparently, there is still risk. Can't win it seems....

Honored Contributor
Posts: 14,488
Registered: ‎04-18-2013

Re: 62,000 Lbs. Beef Recall

[ Edited ]

@sidsmom wrote:

@Marp wrote:

@sidsmom wrote:

@GAQShopr53 wrote:

@sidsmom wrote:

@GAQShopr53 wrote:

am thinking we are focusing so much on the animals that we forget about the humans who handle the meat while its being processed.


@GAQShopr53 

Huh?

You do realize animals are the main carriers for E. coli O157:H7?

You do realize animals show no signs when affected?

And you do realize humans wouldn’t get E. coli O157:H7

if it wasn’t for the affected animals?

 

In summary....we need LESS meat in the world (but that’s another 

topic for another thread)....but if someone is bound & determined

to eat meat, we need MORE focus on the health of animals.

 

So to imply all these human processors are somehow/someway 

contaminating the meat is....crazy talk.  


 

You should ask for clarification of responses if you don't understand the response @sidsmom . I Do Realize that animals are the main carriers of E.coli and I stand by my point that infected humans can and do transmit E.coli. I don't talk foolish talk and don't appreciate you implying so. The systems spends a great deal of time ensuring the animals are safe and I don't believe they consider that some of the contamination may be caused by infected humans during the processing of the meat. 


OK.

Find me 1 instance, 1 case, where 1 person was the original source

for a national outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 causing a national recall

like the one in the original post.  


Secondary outbreaks (person to person), which are not uncommon, should not be ignored or downplayed just because they do not cause a "national outbreak".  Secondary infections can be as devastating and dangerous as primary infections and victims are usually children.  There have been secondary outbreaks in daycares, preschools and schools.  Most secondary outbreaks are localized.  Additionally, primary outbreaks can also be localized so do not trigger a national recall.

 

According to the CDC (emphasis added); STEC is Shiga toxin-producing E. coli :


Where do STEC come from?

 

How are these infections spread?

 

Infections start when you swallow STEC—in other words, when you get tiny (usually invisible) amounts of human or animal feces in your mouth. Unfortunately, this happens more often than we would like to think about. Exposures that result in illness include consumption of contaminated food, consumption of unpasteurized (raw) milk, consumption of water that has not been disinfected, contact with cattle, or contact with the feces of infected people. Some foods are considered to carry such a high risk of infection with E. coli O157 or another germ that health officials recommend that people avoid them completely. These foods include unpasteurized (raw) milk, unpasteurized apple cider, and soft cheeses made from raw milk. Sometimes the contact is pretty obvious (working with cows at a dairy or changing diapers, for example), but sometimes it is not (like eating an undercooked hamburger or a contaminated piece of lettuce). People have gotten infected by swallowing lake water while swimming, touching the environment in petting zoos and other animal exhibits, and by eating food prepared by people who did not wash their hands well after using the toilet. Almost everyone has some risk of infection.


But we’re not talking ‘secondary’.

In your original post, it was implied the workers who are processing

the meat are somehow responsible for this national outbreak.

They are not.  

 

And for the secondary cases?

How did they contract e.Coli?

Animals. 

Once it leaves the animal, the carriers are secondary.

Fix it at the source...eliminate animal products from our food source

and it’s not an issue. 


@sidsmom 

 

E coli lives in humans, too. So, the carriers are not necessarily "secondary".

 

Personally, it makes more sense to me that the larger danger is from animals, just from a numbers standpoint, but people are carriers too.

 

The "carrier" is the land, which, if not properly safeguarded, will infect large amounts of food, animal and vegetable.

 

 

Honored Contributor
Posts: 18,415
Registered: ‎11-25-2011

e Coli O157:H7 is the strain which causes the outbreaks, illness & recalls.

 

FB92C7A8-8B22-4659-8902-70D9F17692D0.jpeg

Highlighted
Honored Contributor
Posts: 14,488
Registered: ‎04-18-2013

https://www.health.state.mn.us/diseases/ecoli/ecoli.html

 

E coli 0157:87 also lives in humans.

 

I still think the bigger issue is animal agriculture and not workers (because it just makes more sense), but it doesn't help to not see the entire picture or to not understand that some "bad" bacteria live in humans, and this is one of them.

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 7,708
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

 

E. coli are mostly harmless bacteria that live in the intestines of people and animals and contribute to intestinal health. However, eating or drinking food or water contaminated with certain types of E. coli can cause mild to severe gastrointestinal illness. Some types of pathogenic (illness-causing) E. coli, such as Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC), can be life-threatening.

 

Some wildlife, livestock, and humans are occasional carriers of pathogenic E. coli and can contaminate meats and food crops. Contamination is typically spread when feces come into contact with food or water.  Human carriers can spread infections when food handlers do not use proper hand washing hygiene after using the restroom. Pets and petting zoos can also cause infections if the animals are contaminated with pathogenic E. coli.

 

https://www.fda.gov/food/foodborne-pathogens/escherichia-coli-e-coli

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