Re:Ask HN: Did I catch a cold from eating unwashed fruit?
by eesmith on Saturday May 12, 2018 @04:32PM
(#17055873)
3 hours is unbelievably fast. The incubation period for flu, cold is at least 1 day. Norovirus (which isn't what you had) can be as quick as 12 hours, but still normally 1-2 days.
It's more likely that you were infected a day or two previous, with nothing to do with your strawberries.
FWIW, http://fsi.colostate.edu/strawberries/ points out other infection routes through strawberries than just the harvester, including "contamination by sewage", and "Deer feces were implicated as the source of the strawberry contamination".
(Eg, see the list at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incubation_period ).
It's more likely that you were infected a day or two previous, with nothing to do with your strawberries.
FWIW, http://fsi.colostate.edu/strawberries/ points out other infection routes through strawberries than just the harvester, including "contamination by sewage", and "Deer feces were implicated as the source of the strawberry contamination".