e-coli blues

Over 1500 people in Germany are affected by a particularly virulent strain of e-coli and the authorities have not been able to figure out how it got into the distribution system.  However it happened, it is an ominous situation.  If people are not confident that vegetables are safe to eat, they will stop buying them.  Even veg that needs to be cooked before eating will be affected by the panic.  If this happened in the US, sales of veg would probably come to a complete halt.   I grew up on a truck farm which shipped most of its' produce to New York every night.  There were no food safety rules.  Most produce was hand picked by people who may or may not have washed their hands (or the rest of themselves) during the previous 24 hours.  There was no refrigeration and everything was consumed within 24-48 hours of harvest.  Did people get sick?  I don't know, but it was certainly never reported as such.  Today, produce is harvested and packed up to two weeks before it is consumed.  Although there are many food safety rules, and all processed produce is sanitized in some way, there are many reports of people being sickened by vegetables.  Is it the increasing presence of superbugs?  Or are people's immune systems compromised to the point they are incapable of resisting these bugs?  Or is it the whole system from farm to fork that needs to be revamped?