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May 16, 2013 Most public swimming pools are contaminated with germs carried by poop, federal researchers found. We swimmers are to blame. Showering before swimming and taking kids to the bathroom often would help.

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April 5, 2013 An outbreak of E. coli in frozen pizza, cheesesteaks, and other foods makes it clear: Just because the freezer's frosty doesn't mean it can kill microbes that cause food-borne illness.

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January 4, 2013 Two years after a food safety bill became law, the FDA issues a rule to prevent foodborne illness in produce and one to require food manufacturers to have plans in place to prevent contamination. Foodborne illness sickens about 48 million Americans each year.

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November 29, 2012 A new way to clean spinach combines an old technique and a new one to get the disease-causing bacteria. But there aren't any commercial orders for the ultrasonic spinach spa just yet.

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October 26, 2012 The crunchy green microplants have long been touted as raw food chock full of nutrients. But that very freshness is also why they've caused more than 54 disease outbreaks since 1990, including a mega-outbreak of E. coli in Germany in 2011 that killed 53 people.

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April 19, 2012 Tracing the source of contamination in fresh foods grown in the ground is hard work, and companies spend a lot of money trying to keep Salmonella and other bugs out while allowing nature to run its course. But it's not easy.

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• How Does Poop End Up In Your Food?

December 9, 2011 When people get sick from eating raw cookie dough, raw eggs are usually to blame. But a 2009 outbreak of E. coli that sickened people who ate ready-to-bake Nestle Toll House cookie dough may have been caused by a surprising culprit: the flour.

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September 13, 2011 Meat processors warn the move will cause consumers to pay more for meat, but some large companies like Costco already require suppliers to prove their products are free from several strains of E. coli banned by the new rule.

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July 1, 2011 An E. coli outbreak after a school picnic in France has been tied to fenugreek sprouts. The evidence, though circumstantial, appears solid and may help explain how a particularly virulent strain of bacteria has made its way into European foods.

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June 10, 2011 Even though tests from a sprout farm in Northern Germany failed to detect the Escherichia coli strain that has sickened more than 3,000 and killed 31, German disease gumshoes concluded from the pattern of cases that sprouts are to blame.

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June 7, 2011 In recent years there's been a big change in the type of toxin-producing E. coli causing foodborne illnesses in the U.S. An increasing number of outbreaks are caused by strains of bacteria that include the bug behind the current European outbreak.

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June 6, 2011 Preliminary tests of samples taken from a sprout farm located between Hannover and Hamburg failed to detect the outbreak strain of bacteria, officials said. The E. coli outbreak has so far killed 22 people and made 2,333 people sick.

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June 3, 2011 Food detectives in Europe are tracking produce back through the supply chain, in hopes of finding a match to the strain that has sickened thousands. It is possible they may never find the source.

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