Officials believe that they have finally found the source of the E. coli romaine lettuce epidemic

A few months ago, romaine lettuce grown in the Yuma, Arizona, area was ripped off shelves across the country due to E. coli contamination. This outbreak affected 210 people in 36 states, sent 96 people to hospital and killed five people, according to the latest estimates from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). And now, health officials finally know what caused the epidemic in the first place: contaminated water.

E.coli is a bacterium found in the environment, food and intestines of humans and animals. Most strains are harmless, but some types (including E. coli O157: H7, which was behind this outbreak) can make you sick. This type, along with several other types of E. coli, can cause problems like diarrhea (which is often bloody), vomiting, fever, kidney failure and even death, says the CDC.

E. coli can get into your Benjamin Chapman, Ph.D., assistant professor and food safety extension specialist at North Carolina State University, tells SELF that food is grown, harvested, processed and packaged at all levels of food. production. But during the investigation of this particular outbreak, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was not able to link the romaine lettuce epidemic to a single producer, harvester, processor or processor. distributor.

Now, the FDA has revealed that channel water in the region contained the same strain of E. coli responsible for hatching. Investigators do not know exactly how the channels of this outbreak were tainted, Scott Gottlieb, MD, FDA Commissioner, explained in the statement . But food security experts have ideas.

These channels are specifically designed to capture water and irrigate crops, says Michael Doyle, Ph.D., professor of food microbiology at the Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia.

Canals like those linked to the epidemic are built in what was originally rural areas, but now the land around a few of them was built said Doyle. This leaves them open to all sorts of potential contaminations that were not a factor in their construction. For example, people can walk their dogs next to them and, if dogs pee or piss by the canals, rain can wash them directly into the canal.

Even in rural areas, wild animals can drink from among them, bathe in them, poop in them, and do all that the animals do in and next to the water plans, said Chapman. And, since E. coli can live in the intestines of an animal, it can get into the water that way. (However, the water undergoes a certain level of purification before reaching the crops.)

This water is then used to hydrate the crops, and it is possible that E. coli can then contaminate the crops. by simple watering, Darin Detwiler, Ph.D., director of the Food and Food Industries Regulatory Affairs Program at Northeastern University, says SELF. It is also possible that rainwater overflows a channel, spreading water contaminated with E. coli in the groundwater that then reaches the crops.

There are regulations to prevent such things, but they are not foolproof. ] Currently, the Food Safety Modernization Act helps regulate how foods in the United States are grown, produced and handled in the United States. This requires that farms test 20 samples of surface water for E. coli. After that, farms must test at least five samples each year. But even with this sampling process in place, problems may still arise because "all the water that hits the products is not tested," says Dr. Chapman

. However, as Dr. Gottlieb explained in his statement from the FDA that this outbreak was identified and stopped as quickly as it was in reality is a good thing and is a sign that recent technological advances – such as whole genome sequencing – really help.

There are things you can do at home Make sure you eat the safest foods you can, including keeping an eye on recalls, while respecting the basic rules of food safety ( for example, keep your raw vegetables separate from your raw meat) and, as Chapman recommends, buy from companies that have a reputation for following good agricultural practices and focusing on risk reduction.

"Even then, we will not get zero risk, but it will help us," says Chapman. "And the more we pay attention to that, the better."

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