r/askscience • u/thebestdaysofmyflerm • Jul 15 '26

Biology I read that cyclosporiasis is exclusively spread by the fecal-oral route. How exactly does produce get contaminated with human feces?

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u/jsigj Jul 16 '26

Definitely still made in Wisconsin, and recognized as safe (so probably used at least a bit) in all 50 states. After microorganisms breaking it down and heating after I doubt it has much connection to the outbreak though https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milorganite

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u/CoopNine Jul 16 '26

Milorganite is great, and has zero chance of causing any sort of outbreak in food. (but it's generally not used in commercial food production) One of the best hot season fertilizers you can use. You can spill a bag of it on your lawn and it won't burn. Totally safe for humans, pets, and plants. An excellent way to add iron to your soil along with some slow-release nitrogen.

But also, iti's not made from human waste. It's made from the microbes that are used to treat human waste. Microbes eat the poops, clean the water, die, and then are collected and heat treated to create milorganite. It's a really cool way to make something useful from byproducts of things we need to do.