>Thanks for your reply. But what if the pile is large enough and the pile >temperature doesn't reach 150F during the composting process? Is it still >safe to >use the compost with vegetables? >Regards, > >Vara
It is safe to compost any food crops with manure as long as you are careful to
wash your fruits/veggies before eating them. Soap will take care of any
pathogens that might remain on the food. Also, cooking the food will kill any
pathogens. The risk of E.coli is very small anyway, and these measures should
make your risk of contacting a human-infective pathogen very, very, small.
OTOH, if you have a compromised immune system (ie: HIV infection, chemotherapy
treatement, immunosuppressing drugs), or if you want to feed raw foods from
your garden to a young child, it is probably in your best interest to avoid
manure as a soil ammendment. Even though the risk of contamination may be very
small, in those circumstances you may find any risk unacceptable.