It's my understanding that only animals like cattle,goats sheep and etc carry the e.coli. But there are so many organisms in dirt that you should wash everything anyway, irregardless of whether it's organic or not.

Any animal can carry e.coli.

I do hope that you wash your food before you eat it and that you wash your hands after you go to the bathroom.

Its all a matter of hygene.

Cats can carry toxoplasmosis. If you google it there's a good link to a Fact Sheet at www.cdc.gov. I remember reading about something that dogs can carry that causes blindness but it only exists in some countries. Sorry I don't remember the name.

Animals in the garden are part of nature be it dogs and cats or rabbits or deer or squirrels or armadillos or tomato hornworms pooping on the tomatoes. Fact of life and always has been. So is e. coli in its many varieties, several of which are a normal part of the human digestive tract. Hygiene and proper food prep the key.

The one that causes all the problems is the bacterium E. coli O157/H7, also just known as O15. It is rare and the foods associated with it are raw or undercooked ground beef, raw milk, some fresh produce, unpasteurized apple juice or cider, alfalfa and radish sprouts.

Here is a link that might be useful: Preventing E. Coli from Garden to Plate

Was wondering this too. We have a passel of feral cats that like to hang out in the backyard and I'm planting peppers back there..hoping that I won't have to put up a fence to keep them out.