E. coli everywhere

Even in grass-fed cows?

By Culinate staff

January 27, 2010

In a recent article on Slate, Texas historian James E. McWilliams warned beef-eaters that grass-fed cows weren't necessarily free of deadly E. coli contamination. McWilliams — the against-the-foodie-grain researcher whose book Just Food: Where Locavores Get It Wrong and How We Can Truly Eat Responsibly is an unconventional mix of calls for agricultural reform and acceptance of the GMO status quo — says that Nina Planck and Michael Pollan, among others, got it wrong when they claimed that feeding cows grain encouraged the evolution of E. coli O157:H7, the strain that has repeatedly sickened American diners over the past couple of decades. His main concern for eaters? Skip the steak tartare.