German Bean Sprouts the Likely Cause of E.Coli Outbreak

In addition to the 21 people killed in Germany and one in Sweden, another 2,153 were ill, including 627 people who have developed a complication that can cause kidney failure.

6/6/2011 --- Authorities are awaiting test results to confirm if the E. coli outbreak which has killed 22 people in Europe has been caused by vegetable sprouts grown on an organic farm in Germany.

Preliminary examinations found that bean sprouts and other sprout varieties from a farm in the Uelzen area of Germany could be traced to infections in five German states.
"There were more and more indications in the last few hours that put the focus on this farm," Lower Saxony Agriculture Minister Gert Lindemann said yesterday.

German Health Minister Daniel Bahr has admitted the country is struggling to cope with the number of people suffering from E. coli.

In addition to the 21 people killed in Germany and one in Sweden, another 2,153 were ill, including 627 people who have developed a complication that can cause kidney failure, Reinhard Burger, head of the Robert Koch Institute said.

Ministry spokesman Gert Hahne said last night his agency was warning people to stop eating the sprouts, which are often used in mixed salads.

Mr Hahne said many restaurants where people ate before becoming ill had recently taken delivery of the sprouts. Hahne said official test results have not yet conclusively shown that the Lower Saxony-grown sprouts are to blame but "all indications speak to them being" the cause.

However, he said there will not be any immediate lifting of the warning against eating tomatoes, cucumbers or lettuce.

The German variant of E coli, known as O104, is a hybrid of the strains that can cause bloody diarrhoea and kidney damage called 'hemolytic uremic syndrome'. Some patients require the use of dialysis to scrub the blood clean.

On the eve of the EPSCO1 Council of Monday 6th June in Luxembourg, Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy, John Dalli, stated: "I look forward to a substantive and concrete debate on this important issue in the Health Council to be held the day after tomorrow, in the hope that we can further consolidate our efforts to deal with the E Coli outbreak".

The ongoing investigations to identify the source of the E. Coli outbreak in Germany and the latest public health developments are subject to ongoing contacts between the Commission and the German authorities. This was also the focus of discussions held over the past few days between Health and Consumer Policy Commissioner John Dalli with the German Federal Ministers responsible for Agriculture and Public Health who agreed on the importance of information sharing and on further intensifying both the efforts to identify the source of contamination and co-operation between all interested parties.

Commissioner Dalli expressed the Commission's readiness to dispatch to Germany experts in epidemiology of food borne diseases from his services "Directorate General SANCO", the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Food Safety Authority EFSA. Their goal would be to assist the competent German authorities with the ongoing epidemiology, verify the results and contribute to the ongoing investigations to speed up the identification of the source.

In addition the Commission continues to stress that any measures such as bans concerning imports of EU vegetables remain disproportionate.

Meanwhile the US FDA believes that to date the outbreak has not affected the U.S. food supply. The FDA said it is constantly vigilant and consistently takes steps to increase monitoring, as appropriate, in situations such as this, to protect the U.S. food supply.
“The U.S. receives relatively little fresh produce from the EU, particularly at this time of year. Due to the short shelf life of most fresh produce and the availability of growing areas in the U.S. and Central America, the EU is not a significant source of fresh produce for this country,”the Authority said in a statement.

In response to the outbreak in Europe, as a safety precaution, FDA established certain additional import controls. FDA is currently conducting increased surveillance of fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce and raw salads from areas of concern.