Lettuce study

Here is a link to a story about research looking at how pathogens in soil are possibly passed on to lettuce through the roots. The article was passed on by Doug Powell of K-State's Food Safety Network.
From the piece:

Can lettuce grown on soil infected by Salmonella bacteria itself be infected? Michel Klerks, scientist at Plant Research International, part of Wageningen UR, discovered that Salmonella bacteria spread on the plant as well as within the plant. Internal reproduction and spreading increase the risk of food poisoning through lettuce consumption. Prevention of Salmonella infection in lettuce plants and the application of molecular detection methods during routine screening for pathogens in the food production chain can reduce the risk of food poisoning by eating contaminated fresh leafy vegetables. This is the subject on which Michel Klerks will take his doctoral degree at Wageningen University.

TK: As science gets more and more refined, deciding how to quantify and mitigate risk seems to be getting harder, not easier.