Meow

http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/ge...eh8ts4.twitter

I am not one for scare-mongering, but this has to be something of a concern. There have been numerous suggestions of this over the past few years, but this is the first time I've seen any sort of confirmation.

britexpat76

And that is exactly why I avoid salad. It poisons you.
(Do I have to remove the lettuce in BigMac's?)

Millhouse

scaremongering... it's also on your toothbrush

http://worldental.org/oral-hygiene/t...-bacteria/765/

just wash the shit off the veggies and you'll be fine.

Meow

Perhaps just eat lots of boiled cabbage instead?

britexpat76

I smell bad enough as it is

jam25mack

I'm with you there. I'm a 100% paid up carnivore!

We didn't fight our way to the top of the food chain to then start eating plants!

Meow

I thought there was a growing market for natural gas?

al dente

Our compound in AD became a toxic mess last year. 12 houses were diagnosed with Giardia, so we demanded testing etc. and there was no cholrine found in the communal pool. The ADDC came and tested our individual water tanks and found mine to have a full bacteria count but it didn't test positive for e.coli and other choleric bateria. That wasn't much consolation as I was ill for over a month and my 9 month old ended up in hospital.

In the end over 30 people had become ill.

scrubbedexpat141

I love the local cucumbers in my salad, and the local lettuces...but they always get a thorough wash.

Don't suppose that get's rid of a bug like E.coli though does it?

(BTW - yeah, I'm tight, those veggies are WAY cheaper)

Bahtatboy

I also try to buy locally-produced stuff (partly for price, but mainly on principle: buying tomatoes from bloody Holland, which are tasteless but look lovely, versus shit-covered misshappen ones from the surrounding countries seems madness), but chemicals worry me far more than bugs, and I don't image Jordan, for example, has enforced controls on pesticides.

Spinneys sells veg cleaner--anyone tried it? I'd have thought that a good wash under the tap should remove bacteria, or am I being naive?

scrubbedexpat141

Agree with buying local for the same reasons.

Interested to see who knows what about bacteria. I'm still alive but who knows.

norsk

We eat local and regional vegetables whenever possible. Buying stuff shipped in from US/Aus and NZ is madness.

This whole story sounds like bullshit to me though...Bad journalism probably.

It did make me think about picking up some vegetable cleaner though. Growing up in Africa we used the stuff on all fruit and vegetables.

UKCityGent

As someone who goes thru veg literally by the kilos - i throw all the veg in a pot of water and put some baking soda - no aftertaste or smell - and if that doesnt kill any bacteria then whatever doesnt kill you will make you stronger !

shiva

Buy local
Shipping in shite veg from the us, holland etc is insane and the local mis shapen stuff tends to actually have a taste.
Local regulations on pesticides etc are actually not bad, enforcement however is a guess. That said European food regulations are a ****ing joke and fresh veg in Europe isnt even close to fresh, think huge underground bunkers chilled and full of shitty gases. Peppers for example sold as fresh in Europe can be over six months old that's why they look great but have zero taste.

Re washing, baking soda and water or Milton do the job but generally a good scrub to remove the shit will do an ok job.

We obsess over bacteria forgetting that by number we are composed of more bacterial cells than human. A total sterile human with no bacteria in their gut, body or skin will die.

If you want to avoid illness from bacteria, scrub your veg, DO NOT use anti bacterial soaps or cleaners especially any that contain triclosan.
Do not touch anything in public loos here, buy a new keyboard, clean your office phone, don't use water coolers and buy a new toothbrush.

Or just get on with life

gottheTshirt

The best tasting vegetables are from Lebanon/Syria/Jordan most of which are grown in untreated sewage. Lebanese strawberries are excellent. But don't eat water melon: it grows too fast and the pathogens remain in the fruit.
E-coli will not survive above 70 degree C. Most water in the GCC is by thermal desalination and is consequently free (at source) from e-coli. When vegetables are exposed to e-coli (irrigated with contaminated water (e.g ineffectively treated treated sewage effluent in the GCC or raw sewage in MENA, Pakistan/India) then the e-coli can form a bio-film over the surface which will penetrate the surface of the vegetable. This cannot be removed by washing or disinfectant. The only effective removal is by heating to above 70 degree C. The same goes for the minced beef in your Big Mac. It is only safe if the meat is heated to above 70 degree C. Having said that my family and I have been living in Africa, Asia and MENA and eating the stuff without any special precautions (other than normal washing and occasionally disinfecting ,when we remember) for the last 35 years. We have inevitably suffered the odd case of Gastroenteritis, Gardia etc. but we have all survived. Apparently the benefits of eating fruit and vegetables far outweigh the concerns; just use some common sense. Only eat salad that you have prepared or comes from popular decent restaurants where the customers are mainly alive and are western. Many Africans and Asians (that manage to survive past childhood) have a much higher tolerance than westerners have.

As Shiva says "just get on with life" - the article is scaremongering.