The media reports that I read suggested that wild pigs, wild deer, other wildlife, cow manure, run-off, flooding, and irrigation MAY HAVE caused the e-coli outbreak brought on by "tainted spinach in October, 2006. That's all the reports start with. Well, let's go down the list. Wild pigs? There must have been a whole lotta wild pigs running around that day, deficating everywhere they went. :-) Oh, hey, wild deer. Again, there must have been a large herd come through that day. heh. heh. heh. Other wildlife? It was said the fence was breached. Must have been a "BIG" breach. What other wildlife? Next? Cow manure from the fertilizer plant. Or did the farmers wheel-barrel their own manure from their own cattle on their ranch? Are you kidding me? Next on the list? Run off. What? Run-off. Run off from where. A river? A flood? Did it rain real hard? Blantantly vague, at best! Continuing down the list: flooding? Was there a flood in California we didn't hear about? Or do the investigators mean flooding from rain? Can wild pigs swim? Do deer do the "Doe stroke?" Irrigation is next, so slyly interjected at the end of the list.

Irrigation. That's all the reports said. Let's "spiff-ball" for a minute. How can the irrigation cause the e-coli bacteria? How does the irrigation system cause bacteria? Maybe, and I'm only "spiff-balling", the irrigation system was compromised with the e-coli bacteria. The e-coli made sure no one was looking and jumped into the watering system all by itself. Multiplied enough to contaminate 50 acres of spinach crop and then conveniently waited for Farmer Brown to turn the water on. The plants must have been trampled with all the wild pigs, deer, and other wild life herding through. Yet they bagged it up anyway and sent it out? Or maybe, just maybe, some other individual had access to the irrigation system and contaminated the water supply. Possible? No doubt. Probable? In my opinion? Probably. Terrorists of sort, domestic or foreign, could have been a possiblity. Was it mentioned? No! Why not? Isn't it possible that our food chain, including distribution is being probed for future biological events?

The 4 dead and 200 sick could have been 4 million dead and 200 million sick had the e-coli been the Hunta Virus or any other HFV. How many animals were sick or dying after the "pet-food outbreak"? Apply that to human consumption of the contaminate.

I keep hearing it was a "generic" e-coli for the "tainted spinach". I can't find anything on that term. By defintion, generic means pertaining to large classes or groups as opposed to specific. A generic brand is a brand for a product that does not have an associated brand or trademark other than the trading name of the business providing the product. A generic drug is a near equivalent of a brand name drug. Applying those definitions, can a "generic" e-coli bacteria, a near equivalent, be generated in a laboratory, cultivated, and then spread by some artificial means? Or does it mean it is of the "general type" of e-coli? By that definition, I can only assume that there must be different strains of "general e-coli". To many generalizations for me. Generalizations are usually used to confuse.