In the present study, soils from vegetable fields with various physico-chemical properties were collected to study how E. coli O157:H7 survival is affected by the application of different organic fertilizers. More specifically, the goals were to: (i) investigate the factors regulating E. coli O157:H7 survival in soils, (ii) identify the effect of different fertilizer-amended soil characteristics which are responsible for differences in E. coli O157:H7 survival, and (iii) assess the possible risk of E. coli O157:H7 contamination when soil is amended with organic fertilizer.