Earlier this week Reuters reported on a strawberry farm in Oregon that health officials identified as the source of a localized E. Coli outbreak. There are few details about how the contamination occurred but there is speculation that the contamination may have been introduced by wild animals.
If this turns out to be the case then that farm may have just drawn the short straw. People who grow food as a way of life quickly learn that there are many things one simply has no control over. Some precautions may have reduced the risk to their produce and customers but nothing could have completely eliminated it. And if the deer were the vector as may have been the case, there is bloody little to do about it.
This doesn't mean that the farm can't be sued. And even if no liability is assigned to them the fight itself will surely prove to be very expensive. This is why some farmer's markets insist that vendors carry insurance. And if you sell any food you may want to consider carrying insurance too. You may be in luck, and your home owner's insurance may already cover you, or it may offer coverage as part of your package.
Thoughts and hopes go out to the farmers of Oregon, and especially to those individuals from sickness.
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