The EU agricultural policy encourages and protects local farmers and ensures that there is european wide free transport of food. This means that containing the inevitable contamination (and that is what this is — it is not in the veges) is hard.

If you shop locally, you can ensure that nice clean nitrates are being used — and not unprocessed shit — to fertilize the beds the veges are growing on. You can’t with industrialised food. However, you can virtually guarantee that industrial “organic” vegetables have had their nitrate need met by the rear end of a cow or pig.

The World Health Organisation says the E. coli strain responsible for the deadly outbreak in Europe is a new bacteria that has never been seen before.The agency said last night that preliminary genetic sequencing suggests the strain is a mutant form of two different E. coli bacterium, with lethal genes that could explain why the Europe-wide outbreak appears to be so massive and dangerous.

via E.coli outbreak involves a new strain – agency – World – NZ Herald News.

Vegetables: local. Meat/ grass fed and well cared for. That means look for localities that use pasture and have reasonable animal welfare laws. The UK and NZ are good bets. The USA is not.