Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 5/22/20

The FDA has pinpointed cattle as the most likely culprit for several E.coli outbreaks last year that sickened at least 188 people in the U.S. and Canada. The agency, in a report released Thursday, said that contamination from cattle grazing nearby lettuce fields is the “most likely contributing factor” in three separate outbreaks, reports our Helena Bottemiller Evich.

Each outbreak was tied to the Salinas Valley, a region in California known as “America’s Salad Bowl” where much of the nation’s leafy greens are grown. The agency noted that each outbreak was caused by a different strain of E. coli O157:H7, a particularly dangerous form of the bacteria.

Agency investigators found one of the outbreak strains as well as other disease-causing strains of E. coli in samples of soil and water taken where cattle were grazing near produce-growing fields.

The FDA said investigators found the same strain from the largest of the three outbreaks on a cattle grate on public land that was less than two miles “upslope” from a farm with multiple fields.

The bacteria, which usually travels via feces, could have spread in various ways, such as through irrigation water, via wind or by wildlife, such as birds.

Call to action: The industry should do more voluntarily to prevent outbreaks, the agency said, and asked leafy greens growers to "redouble their efforts and accelerate prevention through the following mitigation strategies." FDA officials suggested that growers add barriers such as ditches or vegetable strips if lettuce is grown next to grazing lands, as well as examine water that could be contaminated and flow to fields.