Source of Deadly E. Coli Is Found

Article in today's New York Times -- Source of Deadly E. Coli Is Found, by Libby Sander:

    Cattle manure collected from a California ranch under investigation by federal
    and state authorities contains the same strain of E. coli that killed three people
    and sickened nearly 200 in a recent outbreak linked to tainted spinach, federal
    and state food safety officials said Thursday.

    “We know where the E. coli comes from,” said Dr. Kevin Reilly of the California
    Department of Health Services.

    But while the discovery of the match between E. coli in the manure and in the tainted
    spinach is an unprecedented development in the scientific investigation of food-borne
    illnesses, Dr. Reilly said, it does not solve the mystery of how the spinach was
    contaminated in the first place.

BGS