The Rural Voice, 2002-09, Page 63Advice
Are you feeding your 'bad' bacteria?
By Sandra Jones,
On -Farm Food Safety, OMAF
Everywhere you turn, you hear
more and more about the importance
of water quality. Here is one more
reason for you to know the quality of
water you are using. Growers who
use contaminated water to dilute their
pesticides could be creating a greater
risk of bacterial contamination for
their crops.
A Canadian study in the Journal
of the Science of Food and
Agriculture showed that overall, the
pathogenic bacteria E.coli 0157:H7,
Listeria and Salmonella gr,ew
BETTER in diluted solutions of such
common pesticides as Afolan, Bravo
500. Lorsban 4E and Ambush 500EC
than in water alone. Overall, a 1(I0 to
1000 fold increase in numbers of
Salmonella- Listeria and E.coli
0157:H7 were observed in these
pesticide solutions within four days
at room temperature, says Dr. Greg
Blank a professor of food
microbiology at the University of
Manitoba. What this all means is. if
your water supply is contaminated
and you use this water to mix your
pehticides, you are giving these bad
bacteria the opportunity to multiply
and potentially cause greater
problems down the line.
So how do you go about testing
your water?
If water that is used to spray
protective chemicals onto crops
becomes contaminated with an
actively growing population of bad
bacteria, it can spread the pathogens
to the crop. Water samples collected
for the purpose of microbial analysis
are perishable and can be easily
contaminated. Therefore. when
collecting and transporting your
water samples. you must pay close
attention that you don't accidentally
contaminate your sample. Take every
precaution to ensure that fingers,
hands. clothing or an other uhte, t
does not touch the mout h ut the
bottle. the interior of the bottle or the
inner surface of the bottle cap. Do
not rinse the container that has been
provided by the laboratory contracted
to do the analysis prior to collecting a
water sample. Take the sample
quickly without exposing the open
container to the air for long periods
of time. The cap should be held in
the down position in the hand not
being used to collect the sample. The
cap should never he placed on a
bench. counter or other surface while
the sample is being collected.
To prevent any significant
changes to the samples. they should
be refrigerated immediately after
sampling and analyzed within 48
hours by an accredited laboratory.
Be sure you contact the laboratory
and let them know the sample you
are giving them is for irrigation water
- not drinking water purposes.0
HILL and HILL FARMS LTD.
and
VARNA GRAIN 011-M1
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HILL AND HILL FARMS LTD. is a supplier of:
• Seed Wheat, Patriot, Stealth, Vision & Gryphon, Maxine
• Seed Soybean • Seed Corn • Histick
and are grain receivers of corn and soybeans
• Full Custom Harvesting, Planting & Spraying Services
Roundup
Ready-
SOYBEANS
ady
SOYBEANS
syngenta
Contact
Kristen Thomas or Pete Rowntree
233-3218
HILL & HILL
FARMS LTD.
Varna, Ontario
SEPTEMBER 2002 59