An outbreak of E. coli has been in the spotlight recently as more than 200 people have become unwell and now, the cases have been linked to one vegetable.
Three companies have recalled products such as sandwiches and wraps from supermarket shelves as a precaution in recent weeks.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) told Sky News that while it is “too early to determine” how some lettuce became contaminated, it is “confident” that the vegetable is the source.
How can lettuce get contaminated with E. coli?
The lettuce could have been contaminated with E. coli in a few ways.
Sky News reports that, according to Professor Jim Monaghan (professor of crop science at Harper Adams University in Shropshire), E. coli "essentially wants to be inside the guts of warm-blooded animals".
However, in between 10-15% of dairy herds, pathogenic strains can be found so a minority of manure is contaminated with E. coli.
In direct contamination, the contaminated manure can find its way onto lettuce leaves as it grows.
The bacteria could get into the soil or water and get onto the lettuce, in indirect contamination cases.
@uktoday_ Experts warn what happens when don’t wash these fruit and vegetables #uknews #fruitandveg #foodpoisoning #uknewsheadlines ♬ original sound - UKToday 🇬🇧 Newsquest
Recommended reading:
- Third company recalls product as it may be contaminated with E. coli
- Everything you need to know about E.coli as outbreak declared
- Warning to never bring home these 4 foods home if you want to live longer
It’s unclear whether the affected lettuce came from the UK or was imported.
Sky News reported the latest number of E. coli cases on Tuesday, June 18.
It said that 211 cases had been confirmed as of Tuesday, June 11.
At least 67 people needed to have treatment in hospital.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here