Bean sprouts still main E coli suspect

Bean sprouts or similar shoots are the most likely source of an E coli outbreak which has killed 31 people and hit farmers across Europe, German officials have said, citing a study of patients and the food they ate.

Investigations have focused on an organic farm in the northern German state of Lower Saxony, and the state's agriculture minister said yesterday that he was convinced this was where the outbreak had begun.

"It's the bean sprouts," said Reinhard Burger, head of the Robert Koch Institute, Germany's centre for disease control.

No samples of bean sprouts or other shoots had tested positive yet for the bacteria, Mr Burger told a news conference. But the study of food consumed in restaurants and canteens by E coli patients nevertheless identified contaminated bean sprouts or similar foods as the source.

"All the registered cases in this study had consumed these bean sprouts," he said. "The test method made it possible in an epidemiological way to isolate the source of the outbreak with a high probability to the consumption of bean sprouts."

Bean sprouts are popular in Germany, and are served in most salad bars and often in sandwiches.

However, the Institute said Mr Burger's comments covered a wider range of shoots.

Lower Saxony's agriculture minister Gert Lindemann has said alfalfa, mung bean, radish and arugula sprouts from the farm near the small town of Bienenbuettel might all be linked to the outbreak.

"The chain of evidence pointing to bean sprouts is flawless. For us, the source of the outbreak is definitely the farm in Bienenbuettel," Mr Lindemann said. The farm has been shut down and is no longer delivering vegetables to market.

The German government has been criticised at home and around Europe for failing to pin down the cause of the outbreak that has stricken around 3,000 people in 12 countries. All cases have been traced back to near Hamburg in northern Germany.

About a quarter of E coli patients in the month-long outbreak have developed a severe complication called haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS).

Authorities said it is now safe to eat tomatoes, cucumbers, and leafy salads, food originally suspected as the source, but bean sprouts should be avoided while studies continue.

Germany had also came under fire for hastily blaming the outbreak on Spanish cucumbers, comments it later withdrew, and a failure to produce conclusive evidence of the source. The European Union raised its compensation offer for farmers hit by plummeting sales to €210 million from €150m, made after Germany first blamed cucumbers from Spain.

Organic producers had attracted suspicion because they use manure rather than chemical fertiliser, putting crops more at risk of contamination.The economic damage to Europe's farming industry could reach half a billion euros.

The neighbouring Netherlands welcomed the German findings.

"This is very good news," said Murco Mijnlieff, a spokesman for the Dutch ministry of economic affairs, agriculture and innovation after the cucumber warning was lifted. "It is the first step to consumer confidence in those products."

The Netherlands exports around 70 per cent of its cucumber output to Germany. The losses for the Dutch alone are estimated at €70m a week.

In Germany, the Ecoli death toll rose by one after authorities confirmed a woman who died on 3 June was a victim.

German authorities said the outbreak was still a threat, despite signs of slowing, and warned the death toll may rise.

"I cannot give an all-clear. New infections are still to be expected but the number new infections is clearly falling," said health minister Daniel Bahr.