E.coli: How to Prevent it From Contaminating Your Produce and Meats

How can we prevent E.coli from contaminating our foods? During the past few years we have seen and heard in the news about the deadly outbreaks of E.coli and salmonella bacteria. Most often it has been in leafy greens such as spinach and lettuce and also in hamburger meat.

According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention),E. coli is a leading cause of foodborne illness. Based on a 1999 estimate, 73,000 cases of infection and 61 deaths occur in the United States each year! And I would image that that figure has risen in the last 10 years.

What can we, as consumers, do to protect ourselves and prevent e.coli on our foods? Well, Susan Sumner, a food scientist at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, developed an environmentally friendly method of preventing e.coli and other dangerous bacteria from contaminating beef carcasses that turned out to be more effective than the standard method which utilized chlorine bleach.

She then turned her attention to a much more difficult challenge: removing dangerous microbes from fresh produce. Even if raw beef is heavily contaminated with bacteria, careful handling and thorough cooking will make it completely safe to eat.

Lettuce, on the other hand is very delicate and easily damaged and is usually eaten raw. The solution to the problem turned out to be the same for meat and vegetables.

Sumner contaminated fruits and vegetables with salmonella and E.coli, then sprayed the produce with hydrogen peroxide, vinegar, or both. She discovered a completely effective and natural way of preventing e.coli contamination that we can do easily in our own homes!

Hydrogen peroxide was 100 times as effective as vinegar, but vinegar and hydrogen peroxide worked together to kill 10 times as many bacteria as were killed by peroxide alone!

"What I really liked about this treatment," Ms. Sumner said, "is that every [microbe] that drips off is killed." So you're not just transferring disease-causing contamination from your food to the sink, drain, or cutting board.

Speaking of which, she notes that the paired sprays work well in sanitizing counters and other food preparation surfaces -- including wood cutting boards.

Vinegar and hydrogen peroxide are natural substances that are produced by living organisms. Our own bodies produce peroxide as a byproduct of metabolism. Hydrogen peroxide is essentially a water molecule with an extra oxygen atom attached. When hydrogen peroxide is exposed to heat, light, or organic material, it releases its extra oxygen; pure water and oxygen are produced by this reaction.

Pure oxygen is extremely toxic to microorganisms, which is why hydrogen peroxide is such an effective antiseptic. When it comes in contact with bacteria, a bubbling action begins and when it stops and cannot be restarted by the addition of more hydrogen peroxide, the the bacteria are all dead.

Vinegar and hydrogen peroxide are completely harmless to humans, pets and the environment. The two products will not linger on surfaces, so rinsing is unnecessary, and microbes can't acquire a resistance to them.

From the book Organic Housekeeping by Ellen Sandbeck comes this easy

Here's How You Set Up the Disinfecting System:

Buy 2 plastic spray bottles in two different colors. One bottle must be completely opaque in as dark a color as you can find. The dark one is for the hydrogen peroxide which degrades if exposed to light or heat. You cannot combine the vinegar with the peroxide in the same bottle because hydrogen peroxide is delicate and readily breaks down into water, losing its antibacterial effect.
Buy a big bottle of consumer strength (3%) hydrogen peroxide, easily found a a drug store. Fill the dark bottle with the hydrogen peroxide and store it in a cool, dark place. Do not use anything stronger than the 3% peroxide.
Buy a gallon of white vinegar at the grocery store and fill the other bottle with it.

Here's How You Use the System:

Disinfecting PRODUCE: Rinse off the dirt and grit, then spray with the vinegar and then with the hydrogen peroxide. The peroxide, which has no taste, rinses off the vinegar. No further rinsing is necessary.
Disinfecting MEAT: Spray red meat, fish and poultry with vinegar, then with the hydrogen peroxide. No rinsing is necessary.
Disinfecting PROCESSED FOODS: If you are really worried about germs, you can spray down food packaging such as milk and yogurt cartons, bottles, cans, or packaged meat packages. The dry with a clean kitchen towel. Do not spray any cardboard.
DISINFECT THE SINK: After you clean meat or fish, wash the sink with dish soap and water, then spray the sink with one bottle, then the other. You can use the spray on any handles or door knobs you may have touched while handling the meat.
Use the sprays to disinfect the counter tops, refrigerator, stovetop, or any other kitchen surface that may worry you. Do not use the sprays on marble as vinegar dissolves marble and the peroxide may damage it. Clean your marble countertops with dish soap and water.

References:Organic Housekeeping by Ellen Sandbeck
For more on E.coli in fresh vegetables.

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How to Prevent E.coli On Your Meat and Produce the Natural Way