Spanish organic cucumbers....

[CogitoErgoSometimes]

Anyone else feeling less than confident about the organic cucumber from Spain sitting in their fridge following this story about v nasty e-coli problems in Germany and Czech Rep?

I don't know, Beth. I was hoping that someone would have the answer to that.

I think most waterbased veggies will have a lot of bacteria in - water is not inherently clean. And you can take in quite a lot of some forms of e-coli before getting sick can't you. It's one of those background things that in small quantities are fine but a lot will make you sick.

No, not any form of E. coli is dangerous. We have loads of them in our intestines and they don't cause any problems. There are strains that carry genes that make them pathogenic such as genes coding for enterotoxins which cause disease as we see right now in Germany.
The presence of E. coli (even the non-pathogenic ones) is however always an indicator for faecal contamination. So, the fact that there were EHEC found on Spanish cucumbers even if it is not the strain which was found in the patients isn't very reassuring.
On the other hand: we have become very very good at detecting microbes. We can now detect and identify single cells with the right equipment. Contaminations which we would have overlooked a couple of years ago can be spotted now.

I have a Spanish cucumber in my fridge but it is not labelled "organic".

Should we eat it?

cook it first?

I am in the Czech Republic and they are telling us it is not the cucumbers after all. They don't kn ow what it is causing it.

Thanks, Gracelo. That makes sense.

Oopsadaisy
Well, the Germans have admitted that the outbreak did not come from the Spanish cucumbers. And there has been no cases outwith Germany except people who had recently been to Germany.

They are scrambling to find the source of the outbreak but at the moment it doesn't look like the cucumbers.

The Spanish are talking of suing the Germans, the German salad farmers are up in arms, as are the salad/veg wholesalers. How to ruin an industry.

only eating cooked vegetables here. Usually we eat salad all the time so difficult for me to know what to buy/prepare

Are they saying anythingi n Germany about fruit?

I followed the coverage in the German media and it seems at the moment nobody really knows where this outbreak came from. Spanish cucumbers are probably as safe as others.
I would give it a really good, very hot wash before eating though.

secondary infection also possibly (obviously) via contact with people who have the bacterial infection but may not be showing any signs:

"WHO: Person-to-person contact is an important mode of transmission through the oral-faecal route. An asymptomatic carrier state has been reported, where individuals show no clinical signs of disease but are capable of infecting others. The duration of excretion of EHEC is about one week or less in adults, but can be longer in children. Visiting farms and other venues where the general public might come into direct contact with farm animals has also been identified as an important risk factor for EHEC infection."

From FAZ: Die Warnung in Hamburg bleibe aufrechterhalten, keine Gurken, Tomaten und Salate zu essen.

They are still warning not to eat cucumbers, tomatoes and salad in Northern Germany.

They are reporting that there have been cases in UK.

yes I came back from shopping last week with a pile of tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce and other salad vegetables, swtiched on the radio and they told us we had imported infected cucumbers from Germany and not to eat any of this stuff.

they are also saying on Welt online to avoid Rohmilch (what is it? Unpasteurised milk? Also Rohmilchprodukte - is that the beloved quark?) and of course to wash and wash and wash your hands.

Sounds very unpleasant this illness. Hope it is contained soon

Can you still buy Rohmilch in Germany? We used to get milk from a local Bauernhof when I was little but we always heated it before drinking.
All commercial Quark is made with pasteurized milk today. My grandmother used to make it with unpasteurized milk, was the only way to get the right kind of lactic acid bacteria in there.

yes I have been looking it up and I think that means as you said, milk bought directly from the farm. Dh had to go to Dusseldorf on business and I warned him not to eat raw vegetables and they are saying be careful with beef. That annoyed him since he loves steak and salad! I think the beef was just handling raw meat to just use usual caution with hand washing.

Have to go shopping for some half way healthy things. Missing my summer salads though, sniff

yes, some farm shops still sell Rohmilch.

Rohmilch produkte will be cheese mainly, I think. Unpasteurized cheese - the kind that you would avoid in pregnancy.

the stinky ones then. That's another thing dh likes. Won't miss those personally

Steaks will be fine, as long as the people preparing the meat are not infected/carriers and are practising VERY good hygiene. Lots and lots of hand washing. I expect that the German canteens and restaurants are being very cautious at the moment, it would kill your business if it were found to be a source of EHEC.

Or he could have Schweinesteak, which will be cooked through.

If he goes to one of the chains such as Maredo then he should be ok.

I was just winding him up

Bother. But you can't cook cucumbers! I wish I could get hold of British cukes around here, but no. Lucky you all those of you who can access farm shops and similar places.

One of my colleagues has the illness. Really hoping she is ok.

I actually feel more worried today - the fact that the source is totally unknown now is really disconcerting. Very glad we live in the south of Germany but still going to be cautious. But i'm with you zzen - i eat salad nearly every day. I'm totally confused as to what to eat instead that wont make me put weight on.

But feel so sad for the farmers - saw a man on the tv last night saying he was losing up to 20,000? a day. And thats catastrophic if the source isnt cucumbers after all.

yep, "Rohmilch" is untreated milk. you can (could) buy it directly at certified farms or in certain shops (Reformhaus).
aged unpasteurised cheese (e.g. parmesan) is ok to eat, it's the young cheeses(camembert type cheeses) you have to be carefull with.
sorry to hear about your colleagues, hope she makes a full recovery!

I feel really sorry for the Spanish farmers :(

Leverkusen
Hope that your colleague is ok. It is very frightening.

I am buying veg from the farm behind my hedge. I know for sure that he does not spray his crops with anything yucky, as I would smell it.

Agree, Canella, that it is more worrying today. Avoiding cucumber was one thing but now avoiding all veg.