Hannover

Update below

I had the good fortune to accompany Jim on a business trip this past week. We went to Hannover, Germany. It's in north central Germany.

North central Germany also made the news this past week. You have surely heard about the recent E. coli outbreak - also in north central Germany. The farm identified as the likely source of the bean sprouts and the bacteria is just over an hour north of Hannover.

Of course we ate every meal at a restaurant, including salad and meat, not realizing the potential risk.

The only other E. coli outbreak I remember is the one that nearly led to the demise of Jack in the Box restaurants. That was back in 1993. Ultimately, 171 people were hospitalized and 4 people died from undercooked or contaminated meat. A tragedy by any measure.

As you can imagine, this recent E. coli outbreak in Germany is now the worst outbreak in history. Over 2,200 have been sickened, most of them hospitalized, and currently there have been 22 deaths as a result. What a tragedy.

Did you know there are over 100 strains of E. coli, most of which are beneficial? It is a bacteria that lives in most animal and human intestines. Previously there were only 4 known strains that were not beneficial and now there is another one - this one found in northern Germany.

Eating meat that is rare or undercooked is the most common way to be exposed to E. coli. I never eat meat prepared rare. I don't even want it pink.

Frankly, I'm surprised people aren't sickened more often around here. Every neighborhood has at least one slaggerij (butcher). We have one just two doors down from our house. We go there often to buy meat. I've never seen them wash their hands between handling the meat and the money. No rubber gloves. No one (except me) seems to think anything about it.

Ross told the story of preparing hamburger patties with some friends and one of them licking their fingers as you might if you'd had your hands in cookie dough. But it was raw meat. They thought nothing of it and did it because it tasted good. I just can't imagine that. I can hardly stand handling raw meat for washing my hands, the counter, the cutting board, the knife, the plate, my hands again . . .

It's not just meat either. Produce can become contaminated in a number of ways - exposure to contaminated water, improper handling of manure, improper handling at the plant, in transport, at the retailer, the restaurant . . .

The truth of the matter is that it is very rare to get sick considering everybody eats food every day grown and handled again and again by somebody somewhere. Even the most extreme measures can't always protect us. Thankfully, the current outbreak appears to be under control now.

And thankfully we are fine and apparently very fortunate given our proximity to the outbreak.

Hannover is a really nice city of about half a million people and lies on the River Leine. I hope you will stop back by for more on our visit to Hannover.

Update

After reading the news this evening, it seems the source of the current E. coli outbreak remains a mystery leaving people uncertain of what is and isn't safe to eat. German officials simply cannot pinpoint the exact source and are continuing their efforts to solve this enormous crisis.