More than 100 persons have fallen ill in recent days and one died after eating raw spinach contaminated with the O157:H7 strain of E. coli, according to FDA officials. A second death, of a person in Ohio, was being studied to see if it also was linked to the outbreak.Scientists said that no amount of rinsing or careful handling can keep the E. coli out of salads and other foods in which raw vegetables are used if the pathogen is in, rather than on, plant leaves. It also poses new challenges for farmers seeking to ensure that their crops remain free of the contaminant.
Scientists at Rutgers University reported four years ago that they had shown that quantities of the bacteria sufficient to cause disease can be present in - rather than on - the plants' leaves.
You can't wash the organism away from the crop. Even if it's washed several times, you're not actually washing away the organism.said Karl Matthews, a microbiologist.
After growing lettuce in soil that had been deliberately inoculated with E. coli O157:H7, Matthews washed the leaves in bleach but still found the bacteria inside the plant tissues. (Source)
My findings on pathogens on/in vegetables is that washing them with cold water decreases the microbial count with one order of magnitude. Washing with hot water causes a decrease of two orders of magnitude, approximately.
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