Health News
Dutch cucumber exports to Germany collapse after E-coli outbreak
May 30, 2011, 11:37 GMT
Amsterdam - The export of Dutch cucumbers to Germany has collapsed as a result of a contamination with the Escherichia coli bacteria which has claimed 11 lives so far in Germany, Dutch public radio NOS reported.
Spanish cucumbers from two farms in Malaga and Almeria were cited as a possible source of the infection.
'Because the German minister has urged people not to eat salad vegetables until there is clarity and the majority of German consumers are following his advice,' said a spokeswoman from the CBL, the Dutch food and retail organization.
Farm ministry officials, CBL and the market gardeners product board have called an emergency meeting for Monday afternoon to discuss the E-coli outbreak in Germany.
The Netherlands is one of the world's main production areas of cucumbers, with an annual production of about 1.6 billion, about half of which are exported to Germany.
Officials Sunday identified three more consignments of cucumbers that may be infected with the E. coli germ in Germany.
The infection, which has also seen more than 1,000 people suffer haemolytic-uraemic syndrome (HUS), a form of kidney failure caused by E. coli, is being blamed on imported cucumbers, apparently from two Spanish farms.
Most of the cases have been concentrated around the northern city of Hamburg, although cases of HUS have also been reported in Austria.
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