Oh my gourd: not good news and despite the image and my silly sense of humour I am not trying to suggest any
double sens when I ask why women are
being more effected by a cucumber bug. An
Escherichia coli outbreak (
Theodor must be really pissed off by now) with a
death toll now at 16 and the number of sick about 1,200 people: the German authorities – where a majority of the sick and nearly all the dead are - initially blamed organic cucumbers from Spain but Spanish officials have refused to accept the blame for their popular
pepinos , even to the extent of the Andalusian agriculture minister
doing a John Gummer; they may have a point considering it emerged that it was
a different type of Enterohemorrhagic E.coli (EHEC) on the cucumbers than the type detected in tests on the sick Germans (this doesn’t completely vindicate them as “
they still posed a health risk”) but being organic they are more likely (oh yes) to be infected as one of the more common routes of transmission is farm contamination due to manure fertilisation. Obviously this would also have to mean poor/lack of hygiene post-picking and/or unhygienic food preparation. Odds are that this situation will worsen before it gets better...I wonder what
'O' it is.
4 comments:
You know it's (O) serious when it's only given a number. Stupid question but whatever happened to basic hygene (or correct spelling for that matter), eveybody knows you don't buy fruit from those filthy Spaniards - joking hombres, joking.
When I first heard about this I did think to myself, "Did I eat any cucumber in Germany?" Now if there was a food illness related to German doughnuts or beer I'd be dead.
hahaha..as would half the country!
Re hygiene, you're right, that's all it needs. With cucumbers (and many other fruit and veg) any bugs don't penetrate the vegetable's skin.
You've said most of what I would've suggested. On our forum we said basic hygene means so much.
Have I given up eating salads? No...in fact I had one this evening. It's a fair bet much of it came from Spain.
If Spain is not to blame and doubts are being raised now, think of the damage to exports and the reputation of the country.
As I write doctors and experts are still questioning that vegetables were ever to blame and cautiously the situation (though bad for those affected)could be improving.
And if Spain's exports are affected how much will this increase the liklihood of Spain needing a bailout to help its economy and possibly could mean a larger bailout may be required?
Up early Gildy! or to bed late?
Your last comment is interesting, the bailouts and national economy are of course on a much greater scale but given the dodgy situation anyway it could be the (one of the) straws that breaks the camel's back.
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