After the World Health Organization (WHO) officially sculpted Spanish agricultural products of having caused the wave of diseases and deaths in those affected by the bacteriaE. Coliin Europe in recent weeks, the head of Agriculture of the state of Lower Saxony (Germany), Gerti Lindemann, has pointed toa German bean sprout farm as probable source of infection. Production is already on hold while further studies are being conducted to confirm that it is the origin.
The minister has referred to18 kinds of germinated seeds under suspicion,among which areBean, broccoli, pea, chickpea, bean, garlic, lentil, and radish sprouts. The affected company, which distributes to restaurants and wholesalers, has been temporarily closed as a preventive measure, and the seeds distributed will be withdrawn. However, Lindemann has recommended to the population that until more data is known they refrain from consuming shoots of these types, although he has reported that all shipments from the Bienenbuettel plantation are being collected. In any case, Lindemann did not want to rule out another possible source of infection, since the infected horticultural foods could have passed to other products. Thenumber of affected throughout Europe now exceeds two thousand.
The crisis erupted on Thursday, May 26, when the Hamburg Health Senator, Cornelia Prüfer-Storcks, denounced that cucumbers from Spain had been the cause of the death of several people due to serious intestinal infections. Now German Chancellor Angela Merkel has promised to study ways to compensate farmers in this country affected by the so-called “cucumber crisis.”
