Frozen beefburgers blamed as new E coli outbreak hits France

Five children admitted to hospital in northern France after eating beefburgers infected with E coli are seriously ill, fuelling fears of a wider outbreak.

Health officials said the bacteria did not appear to be related to the lethal strain of E coli that has killed 37 people and made 3,000 ill, most of them in northern Germany.

German discount chain Lidl withdrew boxes of frozen beefburgers believed to be behind the French infections. They were sold under the brand "Steak Country" and had expiry dates of 10, 11 and 12 May.

On Wednesday, six children, aged between 20 months and eight years, and from different towns in the Pas de Calais region, were taken to a hospital in Lille after suffering bouts of bloody diarrhoea. One was later released, but five remained in a "serious condition" in hospital last night. Three are being treated with haemodialysis, a method of removing waste products from the blood in the case of kidney failure.

Although the outbreak comes hard on the heels of E coli cases linked to contaminated bean sprouts which has killed 36 people in Germany and one in Sweden, health officials said the French cases had no apparent link to those in Germany.

Health minister Xavier Bertrand said: "I hope we can launch a search programme very quickly. We are working on that already with French researchers in order to identify (the origin] and deal with health problems soon."

He added the entire production chain for the beefburgers would have to be examined and stricter controls enforced.

Lidl said beef used in the suspect boxes had been bought from French supplier SEB-CERF, based in the north-eastern town of Saint-Dizier, which produces 400 tonnes of frozen beef per week, according to its website.

"The products were made in France, but depending on the expiry date and our suppliers' opportunities, the beef can come from Germany, Italy, France, the Netherlands or even other places," a spokesman said. "We buy the beef through this supplier with a stamp that says it comes from the European Union."

A box of suspect beefburgers found at the home of an infected child was labelled as containing beef that came from Germany, SEB-CERF's chief executive Guy Lamorlette said. However, he said that container was not enough to determine the origin of the infection with any certainty because many other boxes of suspect product contained beef that was produced in other locations around Europe.

"There is about ten tonnes worth of withdrawn product. Some of it contains beef from Belgium, Italy, there is probably even some from France," he said.

French authorities told Lidl to withdraw "Steaks Country" boxes with a range of expiry dates after one dated 10 May was found at the home of one of the infected children. The firm instead withdrew the entire line of frozen beefburgers.