We do grow our own lettuces, cress, radishes and tomatoes. And we both like loads of vegetables with our meals, which are boiled and therefore safe. I read today in the paper that this mutant E coli gets into the actual cells of the plant, so washing is ineffective. I've never actually liked cucumbers! I caught Giardia in Ghana, horrid bug. It took two courses of very strong antibiotics to get rid of it, and all because I cleaned my teeth ONCE from the tap! (daft thing to do!) E coli has been used in laboratories for decades to act as a marker, I remember in the 1970's my then boyfriend, a molecular biologist, showing me how this was done and explaining about the uses. But there are several strains. This one is apparently new, a mutant, and resistant to antibiotics. The Russians (who've now banned all EU produce) say we're too gung ho with antibiotics. They're probably right.