Beansprouts are source of deadly E coli outbreak

Contamination said to be from small organic farm in Lower Saxony

Reuters/Wolfgang Rattay

By RFI

Germany says contaminated beansprouts are the source of the deadly E coli which has claimed the lives of at least 30 people. Robert Kock Institute president, Reinhard Buger confirmed that people who had eaten the beansports were nine times more likely to have signs of the infection that those who had not.

The origin of the bacteria is still believed to be an organic farm in Lower Saxony which first came under suspicion at the weekend.

“Tests carried out at the farm have proved negative,” said Burger, “but evidence still points to the farm as a probable source of contamination.”

In an interview withFocus magazine to be published next week, Lower Saxony Agriculture Minister Gert Lindemann, said that some 60 of the people contaminated had eaten beansprouts from the small farm in Bienenbuettel which employs about 15 people.

Berlin is set to announce of Friday the lifting on a ban on lettuces, tomatoes and cucumbers, but the ban on eating raw beansprouts will be maintained.

Meanwhile, Russia has agreed to lift its import ban on EU vegetables imposed in the wake of the E coli outbreak said EU Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso after talks with Russian leaders.

And Thailand has confirmed that E coli bacteria found in avocados imported from Europe is not the same as the killer strain behind the outbreak in Germany.

A statement by the public health minister said the bacteria can be found in the general environment and does not pose a health hazard.