ABSTRACT
Food-borne illness typically requires a very short incubation time and symptoms of gastrointestinal distress are common to most of the illnesses. The sources of contamination vary. Escherichia coli, a Gram-negative bacteria, can be found in humans and cattle, as these species serve as reservoirs of the bacterium. However, outbreaks of food-borne illness due to this bacterium have been associated with the consumption of raw or undercooked beef, unpasteurized milk, apple juice, lettuce, alfalfa sprouts, and contaminated water. The usual contaminate is fecal material, since E. coli is resident in the intestinal tracts of humans and cattle. Sometimes meat is contaminated at the slaughterhouse when the intestinal contents are spilled onto the carcass at slaughter. Other ways food may be
contaminated include the use of raw, unprocessed fecal material as fertilizer on eld crops, and contamination from food handlers who have not washed their hands after toileting.
