The bacteria load is completely different.
So there are diffent kinds of sh...tuff. Human excrement is very dangerous. Cow patties, not so much.
/johnny
Cow patties spread onto melons are dangerous. With modern chemical fertilizers spreading fecal matter on food is unnecessary. Whether human c@#p is more dangerous than animal C@#p is not the point. Neither belongs on food and either is more likely to show up on food from an organic farm.
Cow intestinal tracts are the primary source for the particular variety of E. coli that makes people so sick.
But in general you are quite correct that human feces are much more dangerous to humans than those of any other animal.
BTW, cantaloupe, due to the rough nature of their skin, are probably impossible to thoroughly wash or disinfect. Most disinfectants are rated as such based on their effectiveness on clean, non-porous surfaces. A cantaloupe surface is about as porous as you can get.
I beg to differ. Cows can have E. coli O157:H7 growing in their gut without ill effect, since they have no receptors for the shiga-like toxin. I'm not sure if the same holds true for other hemorrhagic strains of E. coli. But I would stay away from fresh cow poop.
In reference to some of your other posts, I thought that all produce was supposed to be washed in diluted bleach right after picking?