Understanding and managing the risks from E. coli O157 in an open farm context

As we are approaching the busy Easter holiday season when families are likely to visit open farms, the Health Protection Agency, Health and Safety Executive and Local Authorities Co-ordinators of Regulatory Services have jointly published a timely reminder of good practice in reducing the risk of infection to visitors to open farms. It is recognised that the risks cannot be completely eliminated.http://www.hpa.org.uk/webw/HPAweb&HPAwebStandard/HPAweb_C/1267551713479?p=1259152466069
The standards which the operators of open farms, including ‘petting farms’ are expected to
meet are set down in an information sheet published by HSE – this is
http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/ais23.pdf ‘Avoiding ill health at open farms – advice to farmers’.
This guidance, which has a supplement aimed at teachers who may take groups of children
on organised outings to such farms, is used by inspectors from the Local Authorities and HSE
to judge compliance with the relevant health and safety legislation.