WATCH: Is the discovery of antibiotic-resistant E. coli on B.C. lettuce a health risk? Linda Aylesworth tells us whether we should be worried.
Researchers at the University of British Columbia found coliform bacteria on lettuce samples from several local farmers markets, of which 13 per cent harboured E. coli. Twenty per cent of the E. coli in the samples suggested fecal contamination.
Those numbers may not sound appetizing, but they do fall within Health Canada guidelines, which allow for a certain amount of bacteria in our food, keeping in mind that most kinds of E. coli do not cause disease.
“We recovered extremely low E. coli in only a portion of our food,” says lead researcher Jayde Wood. “For the remainder part of the samples we didn’t even recover E. coli.”
Of concern to researchers was that 97 per cent of the E. coli bacteria they did find were resistant to antibiotics.
Wood says that while the antibiotic-resistant E. coli bacteria she discovered are benign, the fear is that they can transfer genes to disease-causing E. coli.
Wood started her research years ago to examine the benefits and risks associated with eating fresh produce.
“For the past 10 years we observed a drastic increase in instances of foodborne disease associated with fresh fruits, fresh vegetables and generally fresh produce,” she says.
She says washing produce prior to consumption is not necessarily an effective way to guard yourself against bacteria.
“You can probably wash away a lot of bacteria, but it only takes a tiny amount of pathogen to get you sick,” she says.
“Chances are not that great that washing will completely eliminate all of the virulent bacteria.”
So what can consumers do to protect themselves? Wood recommends tracking recalls and warnings issued by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
“There’s not too much else you can do as a consumer,” she says. “Cooking is effective at eliminating bacteria, but you don’t really boil your salad before you eat it.”
-with files from Linda Aylesworth
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