E.coli: Germany says it might not be bean sprouts

Spanish farmers are pursuing compensation from Germany, claiming that they have lost millions of euros in business, after having to destroy piles of unsold vegetables, as concerned European consumers stopped eating Spanish produce.

European farm ministers have convened an emergency meeting in Luxembourg on Tuesday to discuss compensation. EU spokeswoman Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen said the EU Commission “will propose concrete measures of compensation” at the meeting.

Spanish farmers said that there were no signs that business was recovering, even though German officials admitted last week that Spain was not to blame. Antonio Moreno, who helps run a farmers organisation in Almeria in southern Spain, said: “We are indignant, angry, furious and everything else imaginable.

“I’ve had a farmer on the phone to me this morning saying that he cannot sell a single kilo of his summer tomatoes and he has had to ask for help to tear all the plants up.”

The source of the outbreak remains as unclear as it was at the start of May, when the deadly outbreak first started.

The agricultural ministry in Lower Saxony said: “The search for the outbreak’s cause is very difficult as several weeks have passed since its suspected start,” while warning that the negative tests did not mean the bean sprouts were in the clear.

The ministry added that it may be some time before Europe’s shoppers know for sure what foodstuffs are safe: “A conclusion of the investigations and a clarification of the contamination’s origin is not expected in the short term.”