European Union agriculture ministers will today hold emergency talks in Luxembourg on the bacteria crisis that has left 23 dead, as the source of the outbreak remained a mystery.
The European ministers will discuss aid for farmers who are unable to sell their vegetables due to growing consumer fears over the E. coli outbreak.
They will also review the bloc's food safety alert system to ensure that warnings have "scientific basis and proof" before becoming public, EU health commissioner John Dalli said. Mr Dalli said the alert system review was requested by Spain, where farmers were hit hard by inaccurate warnings that the outbreak might be linked to Spanish organic cucumbers.
Madrid has said it will demand full compensation from Germany for the losses which Spain's fruit and vegetables exporters association, FEPEX, estimated at 225 million euros (£200m) per week since the crisis began.
Germany meanwhile announced that initial tests on suspected organic sprouts had proved negative. The tests were carried out on a farm in the northern state of Lower Saxony after regional agriculture minister Gerd Lindermann said a link had been found to the main areas hit by the outbreak.Results available from 23 of the 40 samples of seeds, water, ventilation and work surfaces tested showed they were free of the bacteria responsible for 23 deaths and more than 2,000 people falling ill, the state's agriculture ministry said. "Investigations are continuing," the ministry said, adding that it did not expect "any short-term conclusions."
German Federal Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner said Berlin would maintain warnings against eating sprouts as well as tomatoes, lettuce and cucumbers, particularly in the north of the country, until the origin had been pinpointed.
But Andreas Hensel, head of the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, said that "it is possible we shall never be able to identify the source" of the contamination. Similar outbreaks in Japan between 1996 and 2003 infected more than 10,000 people and left 22 dead, according to the Japanese health ministry.
The current outbreak has hit at least 14 countries including the United States. Of the 23 victims, 22 died in Germany and one in Sweden - a woman who had visited Germany. In Germany, 1,601 patients have been diagnosed as infected and a further 630 with haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS), a life-threatening condition involving kidney malfunction, the Robert Koch Institute said.
The rate of infection grew from no more than nine a day during the first 10 days in May, to finally reach a peak of 122 on May 23 and has since slowed, the institute said.
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The European ministers will discuss aid for farmers who are unable to sell their vegetables due to growing consumer fears over the E. coli outbreak.
They will also review the bloc's food safety alert system to ensure that warnings have "scientific basis and proof" before becoming public, EU health commissioner John Dalli said. Mr Dalli said the alert system review was requested by Spain, where farmers were hit hard by inaccurate warnings that the outbreak might be linked to Spanish organic cucumbers.
Madrid has said it will demand full compensation from Germany for the losses which Spain's fruit and vegetables exporters association, FEPEX, estimated at 225 million euros (£200m) per week since the crisis began.
Germany meanwhile announced that initial tests on suspected organic sprouts had proved negative. The tests were carried out on a farm in the northern state of Lower Saxony after regional agriculture minister Gerd Lindermann said a link had been found to the main areas hit by the outbreak.Results available from 23 of the 40 samples of seeds, water, ventilation and work surfaces tested showed they were free of the bacteria responsible for 23 deaths and more than 2,000 people falling ill, the state's agriculture ministry said. "Investigations are continuing," the ministry said, adding that it did not expect "any short-term conclusions."
German Federal Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner said Berlin would maintain warnings against eating sprouts as well as tomatoes, lettuce and cucumbers, particularly in the north of the country, until the origin had been pinpointed.
But Andreas Hensel, head of the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, said that "it is possible we shall never be able to identify the source" of the contamination. Similar outbreaks in Japan between 1996 and 2003 infected more than 10,000 people and left 22 dead, according to the Japanese health ministry.
The current outbreak has hit at least 14 countries including the United States. Of the 23 victims, 22 died in Germany and one in Sweden - a woman who had visited Germany. In Germany, 1,601 patients have been diagnosed as infected and a further 630 with haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS), a life-threatening condition involving kidney malfunction, the Robert Koch Institute said.
The rate of infection grew from no more than nine a day during the first 10 days in May, to finally reach a peak of 122 on May 23 and has since slowed, the institute said.
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