Soil and plants were free of E. coli at the time of planting. Survival of E. coli in soil contaminated at various times during growing is illustrated in Table 1. The initial population of E. coli that was inadvertently deposited on to the soil at each inoculation time was
0.03 ± 0.22 log10 CFU g soil1. At harvest, numbers of viable E. coli in the soil ranged from 2.46 to 4.27 log10 CFU g soil1 depending on the time of contamination. E. coli numbers were higher (P < 0.05) in soil contaminated at planting (4.27 log10 CFU g soil1) and lowest when contaminated at 8 weeks after planting and 1 week prior to harvest (2.57 and 2.46 log10 CFU soil1). Additionally, there was no difference (P ¼ 0.28) in the amount of E. coli present in the soil contaminated at planting and 4 weeks after planting (3.01log10 CFU soil1).