Buffer zone guidelines may be inadequate to protect produce from feedlot contamination
Tuesday, December 23, 2014 - 10:00
in Earth & Climate
The pathogen Escherichia coli O157:H7 can spread, likely airborne, more than one tenth mile downwind from a cattle feedlot onto nearby produce, according to a paper published ahead of print in Applied and Environmental Microbiology. The high percentages of leafy greens contaminated with E. coli suggest great risk for planting fresh produce 180 m [590 feet] or less from a feedlot," the investigators write. That suggests that current buffer zone guidelines of 120 meters [400 feet] from a feedlot may be inadequate. This is the first comprehensive and long-term study of its kind, says first author Elaine D. Berry, of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Meat Animal Research Center, in Clay Center, Nebraska.
