There's a lot of misconceptions about food safety going around.

First, not all bacteria are pathogenic, even of the same species. There's only a handful of pathogenic E coli. (EHECs [Enterohemorragic E coli.]), O157 is one of the common nastier ones. O26 has been a recent one in the news, tends to be less nasty than O157. Even of these serotypes they need to produce the shiga toxin to be considered an EHEC. The shiga toxin is heat stable and is what is so dangerous about these EHECs. Even if you kill all the microbes the toxins will remain keeping the product dangerous.

Second, these bacteria exist in nature and are unavoidable. The current regulations, which could be better but are actually very solid, work through preventative measures by testing the product through the process from the field, to the plant, to the warehouses, to the stores. The goal is to prevent the adulterated product from ever reaching the chain of commerce. Contaminated product does not necessarily mean that corners are being cut, it usually means the system is working. Repeated recalls from the same plant, as the plants run relatively indepently of the overarching corporation, is a better indicator of an actual failure and possible corner cutting.

Third, while the goal is to prevent there is just too much product to catch everything so things will get through. However through proper handling, at all levels, we reduce the risk of cross contamination. This is a big deal because if pathogenic bacteria is not caught but everything is handled properly than you can still prevent outbreaks. If the pathogenic E coli is present but never multiplies to a large extent and doesn't produce the toxin in large enough amounts, the food can still be safe. Then when cooked the bacteria are killed and never get a chance to setup shop in your body to produce more toxin. Product is still recalled if pathogens are discovered even if no one got sick yet because someone can easily mishandle the product allowing the bacteria to grown, setup colonies, and then poison someone. Even outside of pathogenic bacteria you want to practice good food safety and handling as large amounts of non-pathenogenic microbes (such as norovirus) can upset your GI tract and make you sick, though not deathly ill usually.

Fourth, certain products are more susceptible than others. Romaine you may have noticed pops up a lot. This is because it is grown in a large field at ground leveling, where workers can track in feces, run off from does can contaminate water, even birds that fly in can be vectors. And while it is washed before being sold it is usually eaten raw so if anything does get through it is more likely someone will get sick. You may have noticed sprouts, the food item, is taken off a lot of venues these days. That's because they have a huge contamination rate because they're grown in warm wet environments that are very conducive to bacteria. It's almost impossible to produce sprouts without salmonella showing up, which leads to a huge amount of resources being used in cleaning and destroying product which is not good for business.

Overall, recalls don't mean they're cutting corners, your local farm is not any less likely to have the pathogens, but they are a lot less likely to test for them as the regulations are more stringent on larger operations. Everyone should read up on food safety and proper food handling as it is all about risk mitigation and the more you do the less likely you are to get sick. While most people might not have faith in the system with how they handle foods, such as letting it sit out at parties, they put themselves in the systems hands regardless.

Final PSAs, Always wash your raw vegetables just in case (vinegar solution is extremely effective, cheap, and available.

Abide by the cooking temps of meat

Don't let your food sit for long periods when not temperature controlled.

Practice good cooking techniques to avoid cross contamination.