I am not sure if washing alone would solve the problem. Pealing would just spread the surface bacteria around.

Also I would point out that the e.coli strain is probably antibiotic resistant thanks to the practices of factory farms which use massive quantities of the stuff to keep the animals alive in what are otherwise unlivable environments. The source is probably unprocessed manure or sewage. I know I always tend to avoid anything from China or Mexico because of their history with using raw waste (including human).

E. coli cucumber scare: Spain angry at German claims
 

Spain has expressed anger at links being made between Spanish cucumbers and a deadly E. coli outbreak.

The country's agriculture minister said Germany pointed to Spanish cucumbers "without having reliable data".

Meanwhile, German officials have voiced doubts about whether the Spanish cucumbers they are investigating carried the deadly E. coli strain.

The outbreak has led to 16 deaths - 15 in Germany and a woman who died in Sweden after travelling to Germany.

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Germany's national disease institute, says more than 1,150 people within Germany have been affected by enterohaemorrhagic E. coli, also
known as EHEC.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13605910


Note: Update Record, 31 May 2011 Last updated at 15:11 GMT

Germany are now suggesting the source of the contamination may not be Spain.

Quite the contrary, Spain "can" be the source.

I'll settle for what my news providers latest sources inform them thanks....time will tell.

By all means, it's the price you pay for being public protector.

More the price I pay for mrs bhuna asking who follows my every post :yep:

:)

:rotfl2: No, I have pay the prize for more then 25 year.

She has her suspicions now :o

Source of E. coli outbreak not identified
 

Health officials in Germany have admitted that the source of an E. coli outbreak can't yet be confirmed. Initially, they'd laid the blame squarely on organic cucumbers from Spain.

The authorities in Spain have accused Germany of mishandling the crisis, and say it's cost Spanish agriculture millions of dollars in lost revenue.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13611818


Note: Update Record, 1 June 2011 Last updated at 06:23 GMT

http://img847.imageshack.us/img847/6...7bactgetty.jpg

Germany struggles to identify the source of a deadly E. coli outbreak that has killed 16 people and left about 470 seriously ill.

German cucumber E.coli outbreak 'may last months'
 

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/5425/53110075getty.jpg
Spain says its farmers have lost millions of euros since being wrongly accused.

The head of the German public health body tackling a deadly E.coli outbreak says it may be months before it stops.

Reinhard Burger, president of the Robert Koch Institute, told the BBC "we may never know" the infections' source.

He expressed sympathy for Spanish farmers affected by the false charge that their cucumbers were to blame.

More than 1,500 people have been infected by enterohaemorrhagic E.coli (EHEC), which can cause the deadly haemolytic-uraemic syndrome (HUS).

Seventeen people have died - 16 of them in Germany and one in Sweden.

Spread to US

At least 365 new E.coli cases were reported on Wednesday, a quarter of them involving HUS, a condition associated with bloody diarrhoea and kidney failure, the Robert Koch Institute said.

The new cases include two in the US, both of whom had recently travelled to Hamburg, where many of the cases are clustered.

Professor Burger said it was impossible to say how long before the last case would appear:"The number [of cases] will come down but how long it will take I am not sure. It could be weeks, months," he told the BBC.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13624554


Note: Update Record, 2 June 2011 Last updated at 05:07 GMT

They now say the strain of ecoli responsible for the aggressiveness of the epidemic and the dangerous complications, is a completely new strain deriving from mutation; it has never been observed before.

Therapies are toothless in many cases. Nationwide they run out of blood conserves. Doctors admit they are clueless and helpless, nobody knows anything about where it came from, how it spreads, and what to do, there is some mild panic amongst doctors. It was said that it cannot be ruled out that the epidemic will run for several months before declining.

Initial suspicions that this may be an intentional release of a bio weapon, were amaziongly quickly gagged and sinc ethen ignored. If it is an attack, then they do not want to let the public know. If it is not, this affair is a wonderful blueprint for the bad guys to teahc them how easily they can do maximum damage. Ecoli bacterias are very easily accessible in the less developed world.

There is a general warning over eating raw vegetables, especially in Northern Germany.

Russia has banned all EU imports of vegetables. The EU calls it exaggerated, but considering that the researchers are absolutely clueless and helpless, I cannot call them wrong.

Yes, this cucumber story is not funny news, when it comes to deploy all available staff to tackle the problem

There's 7 people infected in the UK apparently, but they have all been people who have recently returned from or are originally from Germany, so it's not actually spreading like that yet. However, Sweden, Denmark, Holland and Spain all have cases reported, but only Germany and Sweden have suffered fatalities.