E coli everywhere you look
Dec. 7th, 2006 05:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jebbypal California farmers just can't catch a break from E coli
Interestingly, contamination of food products with E coli can be directly linked to overuse of antibiotics in cattle, chickens and pigs, but especially cattle. Antibiotics (as well as feeding cattle corn feed exclusively, but that's another rant) upset the natural intestinal flora of cattle, though it does cause them to gain more weight faster. However, the increased bacterial load, especially of E coli, gets passed on to the environment in their feces which then contaminate runoff water sources as well as "natural" fertilizers.
The only good thing is that so far, few of these outbreaks are from any sort of antibiotic resistant strain.
Interestingly, contamination of food products with E coli can be directly linked to overuse of antibiotics in cattle, chickens and pigs, but especially cattle. Antibiotics (as well as feeding cattle corn feed exclusively, but that's another rant) upset the natural intestinal flora of cattle, though it does cause them to gain more weight faster. However, the increased bacterial load, especially of E coli, gets passed on to the environment in their feces which then contaminate runoff water sources as well as "natural" fertilizers.
The only good thing is that so far, few of these outbreaks are from any sort of antibiotic resistant strain.