E.coli - Spinoff from past thread "Who gets sick"

[pampered_mom]

I know we've discussed E.coli 0157:H7 in the past - especially as related to the outbreak of E.coli in spinach. Now of course there is another threat from tomatoes. I saw a "news" story on Yahoo's main page which was supposed to talk about how you can make your food safer. This part really stuck out to me:

During food processing. It is normal to find bacteria in the intestines of healthy animals that we use for food. If these organisms come in contact with meat or poultry during processing, they can contaminate the food.

Now...correct me if I'm wrong, but I didn't think that feedlot animals could be classified as "healthy", right? I know that other strains of E.coli are found in the intestines of healthy cows, but they're not the same thing...

[tboroson]

Well, "healthy" is all relative. I'd call myself healthy, even though I'm heading to the chiropractor this morning for a lingering twinge in my neck. When 95% of the cows going to slaughterhouses are feedlot beasts, the line qualifying "healthy" takes a real dive.

It's true that all truely healthy animals have bacteria in their guts. Humans do, too. Many are beneficial. Many are benign. Some are potentially dangerous, but kepe in check by all the others. So, I would be concerned about contamination from the gut even in a truely healthy animal. But, not *as* concerned.

All healthy cows bear some amount of e.coli. But, a grass-finished cow should have no e.coli 0157:H7. Normal strains of e.coli require a healthy cow's gut - close to neutral pH. The bacteria are destroyed quickly by acidic guts, such as ours. That's why normal e.coli is a minor concern for us. But, 0157 evolved to colonize the guts of feedlot cows that have their guts turned acidic by their unnatural diets. So, here's a strain of e.coli that *can* easily colonize an acidic human gut. Therein lies the danger.

[pampered_mom]

That's what I was thinking as I read the article. It appeared to me that they were equating the current 0157 issues w/all cows in general - almost like there was really nothing we could do about it.