If someone told you that a hamburger could be the riskiest menu item at the next restaurant you go to, it would probably sound alarmist. Escherichia coliform (that's E. coli for the rest of us) is staying in the media, so it's not quite as crazy as it appears. Turns out less than a half of one percent of beef is even tested for the bacteria.

With hundreds of varieties of E. coli, not all of them are harmful. As this article states, estimates suggest that we excrete 10 billion E. coli bacteria every time we go to the bathroom. So what's there to worry about? Well, beef is placed into boxes by the ton before getting processed.

That's 2,000 pounds of pre-hamburger meat. But less than a pound of meat per ton gets analyzed for bacteria! If the tiny amount they tested checks out A-OK, then so does the rest of it. Thousands of pounds of meat get processed this way every day, leaving some people to believe it can be risky. Should you give up burgers altogether now? No way, while the article does raise some questions, you can take steps to ensure you get the safe products. Check it out for more information here.

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The e-coli bacteria was in the news late last year in a fresh spinach scare (including deaths) in addition to being found in some fast-food restaurants, but is it really that large of a problem? Warding off bacterial growth in food is a constant irritant for foodmakers and preparers, but standardized processes that nearly all follow generally keep the bacteria away.

Still, the USDA is still feeling the pinch a little, and has pledged $5.5 million to study how to keep fresh produce safe from e-coli in a better manner than in the past.

What will be studied? The vulnerabilities in the fresh produce supply chain for one, and the handling of it before it reaches your mouth as well. Perhaps stricter guidelines could virtually eliminate future e-coli infections? We'll never be 100% perfect. but we could come close.

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Yet another food recall has been unveiled, as supermarket chain owner Supervalu indicated yesterday that it was recalling some beef from Albertson's and Save-A-Lot stores due to an e-coli contamination.

States with Albertson's stores affected by the recall included California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming, and Save-A-Lot stores in Arizona, California and Nevada. Watch for the "Moran's" label, as that is the beef under recall.

Most likely, most of the affected beef has already been pulled form store refrigerated shelves, and more information about the recall is available at 1-800-325-4164.

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Families of those affected by recent peanut butter and spinach contamination reached out to U.S. lawmakers this week. Their purpose: to ensure that federal oversight of the nation's food supply is strengthened.

The e-coli contamination of bagged spinach and the peanut butter bacterial infection from ConAgra (based in Nebraska) has shed new light on the food supply safety of food sold in the U.S., as it should.

We all take for granted that the food we eat is safe, but with more and more imported food and less resources from the FDA to police the food supply for 300 million people, are we really that safe?

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Although a recent e-coli bacterial outbreak has been traced to spinach from a single California field processed on a single day, the actual cause of the outbreak still has not been determined based on a report just released this past Friday.

It's also unknown exactly how much spinach actually became contaminated. The report did state several possible causes of the contamination -- from tainted water to wild pigs roaming the area.

Will we ever know the cause of the e-coli that made at least 205 people sick and caused three deaths? The problem of quality control is sliding these days it would appear, even within the pet food industry's inclusion of rat poison into dog and cat food. Perhaps we should all grow our own gardens?

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A division of Arkansas-based Tyson Foods has issued a voluntary recall of about 16,743 pounds of ground beef that may be contaminated with E.coli. This recall was given by the USDA last Friday and made its way into the media over the weekend.

Although no illness has been documented due to the possible bacterial contamination, Tyson was recalling the beef as a precautionary measure, according to the company.

The details: the potentially affected beef was produced on February 16, 2007 and was sent to distributors in Idaho, Oregon, Utah and Washington. If you have any Tyson beef products and you live in or have visited one of those states in the last few weeks, you may want to throw the product away or destroy it -- or return it for a refund if possible.

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Well, the ongoing E.coli outbreak that has now haunted Taco Bell for about a week has now widened, as people in six states have now shown the bacterial infection from eating at Taco Bell restaurants. Strangely, I've heard no word from Taco Bell on the specific supplier of what pre-packaged product may have been contaminated and what the chain is doing to limit the damage (which has already been done most likely).

As of noon on Friday, the E.coli outbreak had infected 63 people in six states, and nearly 80% of those have been hospitalized. Seven of the infected have the most feared complication of E. coli infection, a condition called hemolytic uremic syndrome, which is a life-threatening problem that causes kidney failure.

Are we to see deaths as a result of this outbreak? I sure hope not -- but the CDC says the current situation is not over. At this time, Taco Bell's green onion supply is thought to have been the cause of the outbreak.

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The recent outbreak of the E-coli bacteria in Taco Bell locations in three states may have been caused by the bacteria's infection in green onions used at the restaurant, according to the company, which removed from its 5,800 U.S. restaurants yesterday to be safe.

Taco Bell said that preliminary testing by an independent lab found three samples of green onions appeared to have a dangerous strain of the bacterium. Result -- the company pulled all green onions from all restaurants.

Taco Bell has not yet named the supplier of the green onions -- also known as scallions -- so at this time, it's unclear whether contaminated green onions reached other restaurants or supermarkets outside of Taco Bell locations.

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E-coli -- the food poisoning bacteria that recently received quite a bit of press in the recent bagged spinach scare -- is at it again, and it has forced the closing of a Taco Cell restaurant i New Jersey as a result.

Yesterday, the fast-food chain said it had temporarily closed one of its fast-food outlets and was working with New Jersey health authorities seeking the cause of the bacterial outbreak that has sickened nearly a dozen people.

As of yesterday, eleven confirmed cases -- mostly affecting children -- were reported by the Newark Star-Ledger, and six people remained hospitalized.

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Seems like we've seen several higher-profile e-coli bacteria outbreaks recently -- the first with bagged fresh spinach (a really good food to eat) and the second with prepared beef.

All things considered, the rate of this bacteria's population in the masses is really pretty low, as there are so many safeguards in place in order to protect the public these days.

With all the food production that goes on in this country, I was assuming that the mechanisms that catch contaminants were pretty well advanced. this is true, and they are getting better all the time. In fact, the recent outbreaks are most likely helping to advance detection methods above and beyond where they already are.

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Just on the heels of the bagged spinach e-coli scare from a month ago, a Connecticut company is recalling over 1,600 pounds of ground beef from New York and Connecticut store shelves over a possible contamination scare with the venerable e-coli bacteria.

According to reports, the affected beef had been packaged in 10-pound boxes labeled as "HAMBURGER PATTIES, OMAHA BEEF CO., INC." and in 5- and 10-pound bags labeled with "HAMBURGER, OMAHA BEEF CO., INC." The packages have the establishment number "Est. 2769" inside the U.S. Department of Agriculture mark of inspection and the case code 101861.

Although the e-coli bacteria lives in the intestines of cows, it is generally spread through contamination with fecal material, and although a relatively low 60 deaths per year are attributed to the bacteria, it's no small occurrence when a possible outbreak in the food supply happens.

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Looks like the recent bagged spinach e-coli outbreak is, well, far from over. Amid possible human tampering that may have been involved, the FBI has searched two spinach-producing companies in California to see if anything new turned up in the apparently ongoing investigation into the bagged spinach e-coli outbreak that killed one and made almost 200 people across the U.S. sick.

In a statement, U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan said, "We are investigating allegations that certain spinach growers and distributors may not have taken all necessary or appropriate steps to ensure that their spinach was safe before they were placed into interstate commerce." Let's hope that the e-coli outbreak was just a rare happening and that spinach producers didn't neglect safety standards when growing, packing and shipping spinach products, yes?

With some of the spinach-producing companies selling and distributing bagged spinach under dozens of brand names, at least we should feel comfortable in th fact that just a handful of companies are possibly responsible. Maybe.

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Looks like a bag of Dole bagged baby spinach may hold the key to why over 120 people were sickened -- one fatally -- by eating bagged spinach contaminated by e-coli bacteria. Using the barcode and other data from the bag of Dole baby spinach that cause one victim to become ill, Natural Selection Foods of San Juan Batista, California was identified as the supplier of the contaminated spinach.

Additionally, a specific stretch of California farmland in the Salinas Valley was also identified as the source of the spinach that contained the e-coli bacteria. Strangely, though, e-coli is actually a bacteria that lives by the trillions in the digestive systems of people, cows and other mammals -- and it's vital to digesting food. However, one strain of the bacteria expels toxins into the body, and it is this strain that sickens people, sometimes fatally (60 per year, it is estimated).

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The recent bagged spinach e-coli outbreak most likely caused vegetarians to take pause for a few moments. After all, many of us eat raw and prepared spinach all the time. It's a great source of nutrients and it very healthy. It's best absorbed raw, but its taste in this state can be a little offputting so many eat it cooked and boiled.

But, just how was the recent e-coli outbreak handled? Personally, I received several emails and saw the story on many news websites on the front page. This, to me, was a very good indication that this was a serious problem. The media promoted the story very well, which was extremely comforting. It could have gone away after a few hours on the front lines, but it stayed for over a day.

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