An outbreak of E.coli that has killed five people and sickened hundreds in northern Germany has been linked to cucumbers imported from Spain, health officials have indicated.
The Hamburg Institute for Hygiene and the Environment discovered four contaminated cucumbers in a local market, three of which were from two separate Spanish suppliers. The origin of the fourth cucumber is yet to be determined.
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In a statement released yesterday (26 May), the federal agricultural ministry said that food safety agencies in the northern states impacted were launching investigations into vegetable markets in order to nail down the origin of the outbreak.
German health authorities have confirmed that five people have died and more than 200 fallen ill due to the outbreak.
A spokesperson for the Robert Koch Institute, Germany’s national disease centre, told just-food that consumers were currently being advised to avoid eating raw tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce as these are seen as the most likely products to carry the bacteria.
