Post by concrete on Jun 5, 2011 19:39:53 GMT 10
Right. I've had a think about this.
Mainly because last week I was surveying underground drainage. Real fun stuff. Especialy when you open up a blocked foul run. Nothing like the smell of stale human waste to clear a blocked nose.
Anyway. Due to the risk of contamination certain procedures are required so that you don't get sick as a result of the work.
This got me thinking about the latest E.Coli thingy going around.
Have you ever heard of Spargle? Spargle is white asparagus (it's kept white by covering it in dirt to prevent photosynthisis). It's a HUGE German delicacy at this time of year. Everyone eats it, every resturaunt serves it.
The thing is. To properly grow and harvest asparagus the planting should be about 2 years before harvesting for consumption.
When planting asparagus, you dig a trench and line it with fertilizer (a cheap way would be manure) then as it grows you keep covering it... yadda yadda yadda, you can look it up. This method is for normal 'green' asparagus
However, what would happen if the initial fertilizer was contaminated?
For white asparagus, you grow it the same as green. But, as soon as the shoots apear you cover them with soil to prevent light getting to them.
Since normal earth is a limited commodity, I would suspect that they are covered with rotted manure/compost.
See where I'm going with this?
So to sum it up.
Either the Spargle was planted on contaminated manure, in which case the contamination will continue for years and the crops will need to be destroyed; or, the topdressing used to cover the shoots was contaminated. This too would result is destruction of crops, if the same dressing was used for all crops.
If you wanna find the source of this new E. Coli.
Start looking at the Spargle.
Mainly because last week I was surveying underground drainage. Real fun stuff. Especialy when you open up a blocked foul run. Nothing like the smell of stale human waste to clear a blocked nose.
Anyway. Due to the risk of contamination certain procedures are required so that you don't get sick as a result of the work.
This got me thinking about the latest E.Coli thingy going around.
Have you ever heard of Spargle? Spargle is white asparagus (it's kept white by covering it in dirt to prevent photosynthisis). It's a HUGE German delicacy at this time of year. Everyone eats it, every resturaunt serves it.
The thing is. To properly grow and harvest asparagus the planting should be about 2 years before harvesting for consumption.
When planting asparagus, you dig a trench and line it with fertilizer (a cheap way would be manure) then as it grows you keep covering it... yadda yadda yadda, you can look it up. This method is for normal 'green' asparagus
However, what would happen if the initial fertilizer was contaminated?
For white asparagus, you grow it the same as green. But, as soon as the shoots apear you cover them with soil to prevent light getting to them.
Since normal earth is a limited commodity, I would suspect that they are covered with rotted manure/compost.
See where I'm going with this?
So to sum it up.
Either the Spargle was planted on contaminated manure, in which case the contamination will continue for years and the crops will need to be destroyed; or, the topdressing used to cover the shoots was contaminated. This too would result is destruction of crops, if the same dressing was used for all crops.
If you wanna find the source of this new E. Coli.
Start looking at the Spargle.