Bean sprouts ‘most likely’ source of E.coli outbreak
Bean sprouts are the most likely source of the outbreak of E.coli which has killed 30 people and affected a further 3,000, according to Germany’s health authorities.
More than a thousand tests on bean sprouts have been taken so far, and none has tested positive yet for the bacteria, but the country’s centre for disease control said studies could identify them as the source.
Minister for Agriculture and Consumer Affairs, Ilse Aigner, said the current food warnings could now be lifted. “The responsible scientific institutes today announced that the warnings now stand for bean sprouts, raw bean sprouts and that there is no longer a need for a warning about tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce,” she said.
Read more: Q and A: What is E.coli?
It is the third time that beansprouts have been blamed for the outbreak, after cucumbers were initally suspected of be the cause.
The difficulty so far in identifying the source of the outbreak led Helmut Tschiersky-Schoneburg, of Germany’s consumer protection agency, to say: “It was like a crime thriller where you have to find the bad guy.”
Consumers should have confidence in the Food Standards Agency’s reassurance that British produce is safe to eat Agriculture minister Jim Paice
British vegetables ‘safe to eat’
Agriculture minister Jim Paice said: “In Britain and across the EU the fruit and vegetable trade has been hard hit by falling consumer demand as investigations into the cause of the German E.coli outbreak continue.
“Consumers should have confidence in the Food Standards Agency’s reassurance that British produce is safe to eat. In the meantime we will fight for British farmers’ interests as part of the compensation scheme announced in Europe this week.”
However, Russia may have gone some way to ease the strain on exports of German fruit and vegetables, after it agreed to lift its ban on imports from the EU.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday that his country would resume vegetable imports if European Union agencies provided safety guarantees, a statement welcomed by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.
“We are happy that we have agreed that the ban on vegetables from the European Union will be lifted,” he said ater an EU-Russia summit.
Many of the near 3,000 people taken ill so far with what starts as stomach bug symptoms, face uncertainty over whether they will develop haemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), which destroys red blood cells and causes severe kidney problems.
