Interesting thread.
My opinions/observations for what they are worth...
Food hygene is a personal issue, and everyone has their
own threshold. Me? Yes, I wash my hands several times
a day...mainly to reduce the chance of getting the flu and colds.
Seems to work.

Produce? Yep, I at least rinse it...mainly to get rid of as much
pesticides as possible. Does it work? Who knows.. Do I eat
salad in far away destinations? No. Do I drink the water? Not
if I can get bottled water. Should I remain tied to the dock
because my opinion of what's safe for me is different from
the opinion of others? I don't think so. I'll do what I have to do,
and expect you to do the same...

As regards E. Coli, I thought the bad bugs (which were
responsible for the fast-food outbreaks) were due to bovine
fecal matter....not human. A book titled "Germs, Steel and Guns"
(I think that's the title)
suggests that when people started forming communities, illness
wiped out a lot of them. The cause seemed to be that instead of
people and animals being separated in the open, during their
nomadic days, they now were all bunched up to the point of
sleeping in common areas with their farm animals and each other.
No one knew that cleaning the pens, and a bit of separation was a
good thing. It wasn't the only cause of death by any means,
but it contributed,and still does today.
As been pointed out by others, E.Coli is a moderate risk, absent
any other factors...age being the most common. Do we know for
a certainity we don't have any other factors on a given day? Of
course not, but we shouldn't worry about it....we'd drive ourselves nuts.
As for me..I'll avoid exposure if possible...I don't
enjoy getting sick just to prove I can eat tainted foods and survive.

I think a large degree of risk depends on what your system
is used to. When I was a kid growing up in Colorado, we
all would flop down on our belly and drink from rivers,
creeks, irrigation ditches, etc. (some of which ran through the
town dump), and never seemed to suffer ill effects.
I'm sure if I did that now..I'd die..lol

It's commonly said that people who come to the USA have
stomach problems for a few weeks, just as we do when we
visit their country.

One point we all should remember is that what's OK for one
person may not be for another, so advice in a public forum
should be qualified, and on the cautious side.
Plus, a sample of one does not a trend make...just because
my buddy John eats a bug and dies a horrible death doesn't
mean that all who eat a bug are going to die too.

Then, sometimes, people draw funny conclusions. A co-worker
reasoned that since oil/tar/etc was organic, those things should
be safe to eat., and not harmful in the least.
To prove the point, he ate an orange with *very* greasy hands, and said,
"See?" Of course he didn't die, but he spent more time in the head
during the next several hours than he normally would in a month.
And the belly-ache was nothing to sneeze at either, according to
him.

I can't believe I've rambled so much...I need to get on the water!
Norm B