7 Jun 2011

EU to boost E.coli compensation for farmers

The EU says it is prepared substantially to increase its 150m euro compensation offer to farmers hit by a deadly E.coli outbreak. Scientists still do not know the source of the infection.

Member of the European Parliament Sosa-Wagner of Spain (Reuters)

Ahead of a meeting of farm ministers in Luxembourg, EU Farm Commissioner Dacian Ciolos had said the EU’s executive was prepared to offer up to 150m euros to compensate affected producers.

But after the meeting, Mr Ciolos told a news conference: “I committed myself to review this (150 million) figure, the level of compensation, and to come back with… a substantially increased proposal as soon as tomorrow.”

EU farmers’ trade has been badly hit after salads were blamed by scientists for the E.coli outbreak in Germany, one of the most serious ever.

Early accusations that Spanish cucumbers were to blame were followed on Monday by suggestions that German beansprouts were the source – but tests came back negative.

More than 2,200 people have fallen ill across 12 countries as a result of the food poisoning bug. Germany is the epicentre of the outbreak. All of the people infected are either German or have recently visited the country.

Despite the localised nature of the outbreak, exports have been hit across the European Union. EU fresh produce association Freshfel Europe said latest national estimates put the weekly economic damage at about 200m Euros in Spain, 80m Euros in the Netherlands, 20m Euros in Germany, 4m Euros in Belgium and 3m Euros in Portugal.

Experts told Channel 4 News the vegetable trade across the EU, which is worth 1bn Euros a week, had come to an “alarming standstill”. Russia has banned all EU imports of fruit and vegetables.

Read more: E.coli brings EU veg trade to 'standstill'

As the uncertainty over the origins of the outbreak continues, consumers in Germany are still being warned to avoid beansprouts, cucumbers, tomatoes and salad. Scientists have suggested that in other countries, washing salads thoroughly would protect consumers adequately.

Spanish legal threat

Spain’s Deputy Prime Minister has threatened legal action against German regional authorities for wrongly identifying Spanish cucumbers as the source of the contamination, but the European Commission insisted the crisis had affected all EU producers.

“We’ve seen a drop in consumption. There was already a problem with consumption before any comment was made about Spanish cucumbers,” said the Commission’s agriculture spokesman Roger Waite.

“The important point as far as we’re concerned is that we find an EU solution to what is an EU-wide problem… that supports all fruit and vegetable producers across the Union.”