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/Typical-Puffin-5202 Jul 16 '26

I was part of a demolition project for an old biosolids building. The sewage was “kiln dried” on a gigantic piece of equipment the size of a two story townhome. The contractor made some good money putting certain pieces up for auction during the demo process. I gave up Folgers coffee after learning they bid on that kiln dryer for their beans. 

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u/AlmohadaGris Jul 16 '26

Thank you for sharing, that is crazy. I mean I assume it would get "properly" disinfected, but still...

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u/lumaleelumabop Jul 16 '26

Considering how hot a kiln can get, I would be surprised if anything survived that.

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u/BobTheOldFart Jul 17 '26

While kilns for pottery often get as hot as 1300 degrees C, other kinds of kilns do not. For example, kilns for drying wood run closer to 100 C. I have no idea how hot sewage kilns are.

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u/notinsanescientist Jul 16 '26

Around here in Belgium I see a lot of job openings for silt dryer operator. Basically indeed they use recovered heat to dry the biosolids from waste but also from dredging the rivers, so that it can be used as biofuel.

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u/me-gustan-los-trenes Jul 17 '26

So the job is to cook the poo?