Here’s how E. coli can get into your salad.

The UK Health Safety Agency (UKHSA) confirmed this a few days ago. At least one person has died and more than 250 people have been affected by an outbreak of E. coli in the country.

This is a large group of bacteria that is commonly found in lettuce. It has strains that can generate toxins that eventually cause significant harm to those infected.

The most common symptoms are abdominal pain, diarrhea or high fever. Although in the most severe cases it can cause thrombosis or kidney failure.

The Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) incident director Darren Whitby said they were absolutely certain that the source of the latest outbreak was “a small amount of lettuce leaves found early“.

But the British press, for example, Standardrevealed the routes by which E. coli can reach lettuce. Professor Jim Monaghan, professor of agricultural sciences at Harper Adams University in Shropshire, detailed how the group of bacteriaessentially wants to be in the intestines of warm-blooded animals“.

This is why it ensures that these pathogenic strains will appear in dairy herds and end up in the manure. This means that it can end up in the lettuce. This is why, ideally, several requirements need to be met.

He points out that one of them is that farmers wait a year before planting lettuce in a field fertilized with manure, and that irrigation water should be analyzed and lettuce should not be planted in areas that are likely to flood.

On the consumer side, Jim Monaghan offers some advice that feels familiar in the wake of the Covid pandemic. Reduce risk of infection with regular hand washing and hydration.