On Wed, 05 Nov 2003 02:22:51 -0500, Feuer wrote:

A starter kept through 14 quadruplings will be diluted
by a factor of 4^14=16^7= over 268 million to one. If these
feedings happen in the course of one week, pathogenic and toxic
organisms will be inhibited by acetic & lactic acid, so the starter
will most certainly be safe, even if it initially contained really
nasty bacteria.

I can just see it now. David Feuer (DF) is having a dinner party and
one of his guests asks:

Guest: This bread tastes a bit funny - where did you get it?

DF: I made it myself.

Guest: How did you make it?

DF: Well, I had this really terrible starter full of really nasty
bacteria. It reminded me of raw sewage because it smelled just like
vomit. But after 14 quadruplings, the pathogenic and toxic organisms
were inhibited.

Guest: BARF