Killer cucumbers!

Hmmm. There are about 843 million people in Europe. 14 of them, none in the UK, contracted E Coli. It's a risk that I am prepared to take. Statistically you are twice as likely to be hit by a meteorite. I don't worry about such things generally. Wash or peel your cucumber and you wil be fine. The press prey on such alarmist responses. Now you've made me hungry for a cucumber sarnie.... LOL.

It seems that the source of these cucumbers is thought to be the Andalusia region of Spain. "The origin of the outbreak has been blamed on organic cucumbers grown in the Andalusia region of southern Spain and health officials across Europe were yesterday recalling suspected contaminated vegetables from supermarket shelves." http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/8546207/Killer-cucumbers-row-between-Spain-and-Germany.html If your cucumbers came from Holland or were not marked 'Organic', then they were probably safe. If E. coli has infected a water supply, it can easily be taken up by plants and can be especially dangerous if they are foods which are normally eaten raw, such as cucumber, lettuce, radishes and tomatoes.

Haven't heard about that one, but we did have killer spinach and killer tomatoes here at one point...

We've already gone through the same thing with lettuce, then chives, and I'm sure there were others I can't recall right now. We've had scares with hamburgers, peanut butter, milk, all kinds of things. The culprit has always been E coli. I would stop eating whatever was in question until, basically, the all-clear signal was given. I love cucumbers, too. I'd have a hard time throwing them away but if there was even a slight possibility of contamination, out they'd go. I grow my own and enjoy every single one of them because I'm positive they're safe to eat but you can't freeze, can or dry cucumbers. You eat them as you get them or you don't eat them. Well, you can make pickles and I do plan on doing that this year but pickles are just not the same as raw cucumber. There's something about them that nothing can come close to, their freshness, maybe, or their distinctively fresh aroma. Oh, right, plus they're great to put slices on your eyes to freshen them up and remove puffiness! I hope you get the okay to safely eat cucumbers again very soon. I'd send you some of mine but they're nowhere near ripe yet. Oh, as far as me throwing anything away, I felt I had to throw away some dog treats that were made with peanut butter when we had the E coli scare with that. But, that actually lead to a good thing since I've been making my own dog treats ever since then. My dogs seem to like them better and I know for a fact that they are made with all natural ingredients.

Yes I had heard but I only eat local produce but wash them thoroughly first. Just an after thought: Out here they are pronounced kookoomber. If I forget and ask for Queuecumber everyone laughs at me

Wouldn´t they be safe if you ate them without the skins? I can hardly imagine how . coli could get inside a cucumber. Do read well where the bacteria is! So sorry. I love cucumbers too.

No, I haven't heard about the cucumbers containing E Coli. That is scary. I would have thrown out the cucumbers I had too if I were you. I have thrown stuff out before because I heard bad things about it.

no, I haven't heard about dangerous cuces, but I'm not in Europe... Now, that whole spinach/tomato thing a couple of years ago... didn't much affect me either, was a bit disappointing when I wanted a slice of tomato on a burger, but... well, I survived it.

If you really enjoy cucumbers, then have you thought of growing some for yourselves? They are not hard to grow. even in a window box or on a window sill inside with bright light. With a large pow and some good growing soil. you could train the plant(s) around the window to make it easier to see the cucumbers when they are ready to pick.

Hi. Humbug25. I have heard about E coli affecting many residents in Europe. I just did not know what was affecting the people there. I see now that it is cucumbers. I love cucumbers. I live in The United States and I wonder if this will affect us too if we eat cucumbers. Some time last year, eggs were on recall because it was making many people very sick. So, my husband threw out the eggs until we heard that it was safe for us to eat it again. Once we found out that it was, we now have been eating eggs for several months now. I hope that no one else becomes sick because of cucumbers.

I haven't a heard a thing about it. Thanks for the update. I love cucumbers to. Stay safe.

This was on Brian Williams' news report tonight. I hadn't heard about it until then. There are 2 cases of this e.coli strain now reported in the US. So far, it won't affect me. I haven't been to the grocery or farmer's market for a while now. I do buy cucumbers during the season and a lot of other fresh vegetables. There is an English (UK?) cucumber sold in our grocer's that I also get occasionally. They're supposed to be seedless and burpless. I wouldn't be tossing any cukes or veggies out unless there was a specific recall. I try to wash all fruits and vegetables. There have been increasing e.coli and samonella outbreaks for the past few years. Makes one want to do their own gardening. Perhaps that is the way we're all headed.

Aww what is happening. Here in our country there was also such similar incident. There was a news about this brand of noodles chicken flavor where it was found out to be infected with salmonella! I immediately checked the ones i bought and good things was the news gave which batch number has it and i checked mine and the ones i have does not have salmonella and it was in beef flavor! phew! because it would really be a waste of food and money if i throw it..but then if it was infected i would still throw it because i would be spending more if we are infected with salmonella..medical stuff are way expensive!

I don't think I have heard about the killer cucumbers. Better safe than sorry. I suppose the safest way is to grow your own cucumbers then you know where they came from if your able too. I took a gardening class and you can use big buckets to grow your own vegies in if you live in an apartment.

I hadn't heard that. We had a scare with lettuce a while back...several people in town got sick from eating shredded lettuce......so I didn't buy it for a while...now it's supposed to be safe but when I get it I still wash it good before eating it! Better safe then sorry!

Wow. This is why I prefer eating locally grown seasonal fruits and veggies.

Nope I have not heard about here yet, but I don't eat cucumbers very often just occasionally but after reading this I'll be avoiding eating them for a while just to be safe.

I've heard about these so called cucumbers on the news and I was quite shocked by it really as I do love cucumbers but I have not eaten one for many years and as soon as I saw this story I said to myself well that's it, no more cucumbers for me! I think there have been a lot of scare stories about poison being found in certain foods but this probably has to be the most serious. I always keep tabs on the news and I think that the news as a source of information is invaluable when it comes to things like this. I used to have ham and cucumber sandwiches once upon a time and that was very nice although I have not had a sandwich like that in ages, I may never have a sandwich like that again considering this latest news that has just come out. Andrew

wow this is news to me. Thanks i will be on my guard.

I never heard of that no, but it has been awhile since this discussion has been started I guess. i have thrown out food due to it being spoiled or otherwise possibly inedible as I have been known to get the worst illnesses from food, at times. I have so many cucumbers here from the garden that I had to skip eating one today before I start to turn green like a cucumber. LOL. They are also good to use in facials and for the eyes, so I think I'll cut some up and put them on my eyes when I nap the next time.