people. that outbreak of e. coli was not a typical strain of the bacteria, it was a rare form that was eventually traced to a sprout farm in northern germany. the scary thing about that for americans is the food and drug administration here in the u.s. does not regularly screen for that strain of e. coli. it strains for standard e. coli, the 0157-h-7 strain, but not the kind that caused fatalities in europe. fortunately, even though our fda doesn't screen for the strain, there is a program that does, called the microbiological data program that costs tax payers less than $5,000 a year to scan produce that's susceptible to e. coli. when they find something dangerous, that leads to a product recall. as reported today, house republicans have zeroed out