Thread: Spinach Alert

When animal feces are used as a fertilizer, there is always the potential for E. coli contamination of the fruits and vegetables that come in contact. I usually wash my veggies as good as I can

I just ate a bowl of spinach...

Originally Posted by BigDyl

I just ate a bowl of spinach...

Make sure to not wash it next time.

Originally Posted by ForemanRules

Make sure to not wash it next time.

True Story, my hippie friend said not to wash it or it will wash it's aurora away... so i didn't

Originally Posted by BigDyl

True Story, my hippie friend said not to wash it or it will wash it's aurora away... so i didn't

I meant the spinach that we smoke, not the eating kind, god your (sic) stoopid!

Originally Posted by BigDyl

True Story, my hippie friend said not to wash it or it will wash it's aurora away... so i didn't

lawl

When I get my own place I hope to grow all my own veggies.

Originally Posted by fufu

When I get my own place I hope to grow all my own veggies.

Oh wow, maybe you can hang with other gray-skinned ex crackheads like this...

Originally Posted by maniclion

When animal feces are used as a fertilizer, there is always the potential for E. coli contamination of the fruits and vegetables that come in contact. I usually wash my veggies as good as I can

Animal manure used for fertilizer is composted. The temperature and exposure time of the pathogens to the heat irradicates them. The source of e.coli is usually from animal manure in the field (rabbits, deer, etc.) or more likely, human handling of the produce. If the humans don't practice very good hygene, than they can contaminate the product with their hands.

After a small portion is contaminated, it spreads through the run via manufacturing equipment such as slicers, choppers, baggers, conveyor etc.

For this same reason, it is very important to wash your hands and all utensils used to prepare raw chicken so that you don't cross contaminate other foods with salmonella. That is why it's reccomended to have one composite (not wood or other porous material) to use exclusively for poultry.

But if they rush things and haul off a mound of fert. with unbroken down turds recently added then you have problems...


"You might know this but you've never been this see
If I ate spinach then I'd be called Spinach D
I shed light like cats shed fur
Ride around town like Raymond Burr
I'm so high that they call me Your Highness
If you don't know me then pardon my shyness "

popeye must be shitting his brains out.

Originally Posted by BigDyl

True Story, my hippie friend said not to wash it or it will wash it's aurora away... so i didn't

is your hippie friend a penquin

Originally Posted by maniclion

But if they rush things and haul off a mound of fert. with unbroken down turds recently added then you have problems...


"You might know this but you've never been this see
If I ate spinach then I'd be called Spinach D
I shed light like cats shed fur
Ride around town like Raymond Burr
I'm so high that they call me Your Highness
If you don't know me then pardon my shyness "

That is true. But, also a known and they wouldn't do that intentionally because of the risk of something like what is happening. Fertilizer is a controlled cost input and relatively inexpensive.

Originally Posted by Little Wing

popeye must be shitting his brains out.

Funny, but no. Remember he ate canned spinach, which is vat pasteurized.

Originally Posted by boilermaker

That is true. But, also a known and they wouldn't do that intentionally because of the risk of something like what is happening. Fertilizer is a controlled cost input and relatively inexpensive.

You misunderestimate the greed of some of your fellow men, you lack ghetto guile unlike me...

Originally Posted by maniclion

But if they rush things and haul off a mound of fert. with unbroken down turds recently added then you have problems...


"You might know this but you've never been this see
If I ate spinach then I'd be called Spinach D
I shed light like cats shed fur
Ride around town like Raymond Burr
I'm so high that they call me Your Highness
If you don't know me then pardon my shyness "

Plus, they probably buy this stuff from a thousand different farms, not like there is a big field of spinach right outside the plant. So the chance of contamination increases with every handle.

Originally Posted by maniclion

You misunderestimate the greed of some of your fellow men, you lack ghetto guile unlike me...

You are probably right. The love of money is the root of all evil. In this case, the spinach root

http://aem.asm.org/cgi/content/full/70/11/6420
Not only do they use E.Coli infested manure, but salmonella infested from other farm animals...


I think it's probably the environment inside of the bag that helps worsen the contamination. I think I might just start growing my own lettuce and spinach year round since it's so easy to grow, I already am growing, jicama, bell peppers, green beans and some herbs in my garden, if I section off a 50 sqft section Of my yard I should be able to grow several varieties easily. Ahhh, gotta love this year round weather... I'll only use vegetative fert.

Originally Posted by maniclion

http://aem.asm.org/cgi/content/full/70/11/6420
Not only do they use E.Coli infested manure, but salmonella infested from other farm animals...


I think it's probably the environment inside of the bag that helps worsen the contamination. I think I might just start growing my own lettuce and spinach year round since it's so easy to grow, I already am growing, jicama, bell peppers, green beans and some herbs in my garden, if I section off a 50 sqft section Of my yard I should be able to grow several varieties easily. Ahhh, gotta love this year round weather... I'll only use vegetated fert.

You are assuming that they used uncomposted animal manure to grow the spinach. I highly doubt they do this for the production of a raw product. In Wisconsin, they grow a lot of corn and soybeans, which aren't eaten raw.

I grow a lot of veggies myself. I enjoy gardening and tried to start a thread in the journal section Self Sufficiency for a Fit and Healthy Lifestyle but it wasn't too popular, so I haven't posted in it for a long time. It's pretty easy, rewarding and saves some bucks, too. More people should consider it.

Originally Posted by boilermaker

You are assuming that they used uncomposted animal manure to grow the spinach.

As you said they get their supply from numerous sources, it only takes one bad apple to ruin the batch as they say, the use of cover crops probably using cattle manure as fertilizer in betwixt planting of spincah could have lead to a latter contamination of it, especially if the time was very short between them and a batch of spinach came into contact with the ground infected...

I just realized that you guys are arguing over shit.

Originally Posted by DOMS

I just realized that you guys are arguing over shit.

We aren't arguing, we are discussing. We don't want to get Bant!

Originally Posted by maniclion

As you said they get their supply from numerous sources, it only takes one bad apple to ruin the batch as they say, the use of cover crops probably using cattle manure as fertilizer in betwixt planting of spincah could have lead to a latter contamination of it, especially if the time was very short between them and a batch of spinach came into contact with the ground infected...

This is true, but the manufacturer has buyers and those buyers have inspectors that make sure the farm supplying is operating to their standards. Could something slip through the cracks ( , no pun intended) sure, but I bet the source is traced to human contamination or poor equipment sanitation practices(20/20, Dateline, 60 minutes). We'll see. I see your points, though. Grow your own.

Originally Posted by boilermaker

We aren't arguing, we are discussing. We don't want to get Bant!

"Bant"? Your profile says that your from Michigan.

Originally Posted by DOMS

"Bant"? Your profile says that your from Michigan.

Honestly, I don't know what that means. I just see it on IM a lot
Enlighten me.

Originally Posted by boilermaker

This is true, but the manufacturer has buyers and those buyers have inspectors that make sure the farm supplying is operating to their standards. Could something slip through the cracks ( , no pun intended) sure, but I bet the source is traced to human contamination or poor equipment sanitation practices(20/20, Dateline, 60 minutes). We'll see. I see your points, though. Grow your own.

I don't see how a person could cause contamination that widepread...more a whole crop grwon incontaminated soil and then tossed around inside of a bag full of other varieties..

Even when I buy bagged spinach and lettuce I still rinse it thouroughly several times out of habit with all fruits and veggies.

Originally Posted by maniclion

I don't see how a person could cause contamination that widepread...more a whole crop grwon incontaminated soil and then tossed around inside of a bag full of other varieties..

Even when I buy bagged spinach and lettuce I still rinse it thouroughly several times out of habit with all fruits and veggies.

Here is an example of how it happens, Manic:

A guy works on the line sorting out bad (diseased, necrotic, wilted) spinach on a conveyor belt as it goes past him. He gets to work at 6 a.m.. He didn't shower, because he got hammered the night before and barely made it to work. He's sorting spinach all morning with his hands (wearing gloves of course. At 7:30 his break finally comes. He goes and takes a huge dump. A "porcelin buster". He doesn't wash his hands and puts his gloves back on, contaminating the outside of them when he picks them up. He goes back to work sorting spinach. He contaminates every piece that he touches.

1) Every piece of equipment downstream from him is packaging the spinach. There is a rinser that blasts the contaminated spinach with water. It sprays on spinach he didn't touch (purpose is to knock off visible soil, not disinfect)

2) The chopper chops the contaminated spinach and every amount of spinach after the contaminated pieces are exposed to its now contaminated blades.

2) The bag filler handles all the spinach in the run, thus, every leaf of spinach following the contaminated spinach has the oportunity to come into contact with it.

3) All the while, the conveyor belt runs in a continuous loop, picking up e. coli and exposing any fresh spinach to the pathogen.

4) If the spinach is flumed to the bagger, all that water and contact surface are contaminated and counts of e. coli build over time.

5) Pathogens continue to grow within the bag of spinach (a moist sealed environment ideal for pathogen growth)

This all continues until the end of the shift when cleaning practices are done.