Every few months it seems we get to read about another e-coli outbreak at another fast food joint. We never seem to get answers as to how the outbreaks started.
The latest outbreak at some Taco Bells is unfortunate. To understand how that possibly happened, we need to dig deep for sources. Taco Bell uses fresh produce for it's menu items. Lettuce, tomatoes, and onions are the most important. Taco Bell purchases it fresh produce from suppliers who process the produce either shredding or chopping.
The factories are the first source to look for an outbreak, but we rarely look at the conditions on the farm as a source of outbreaks especially as many farms may feed one supplier.
Growing up in a farming and ranching family in Arizona, I have an possible source that nobody talks about. The workers in the field.
I rarely if ever see portable facilities for workers in the field. If there is actually portable toilets by the field, there's never any facility for washing up after.
E-coli is an intestinal illness. If proper facilities are not provided, field workers will take care of their toilet needs in the fields. If we really want to stop these outbreaks, we need to start at the farms.
As to my family, the farms are long gone and turned into housing tracts and shopping centers. On a recent visit I got to sit in a resturant where I once slopped hogs, and a Home Depot sits where the ranch house once stood. Ah, progress.