Brussels, 01/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - Spanish cucumbers were not responsible for infection of the food chain by the E.coli enterohaemorrhagic bacteria (Eceh) - STEC strain O104 at the origin of the haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) which on Wednesday 1st June had already killed 10 people in Europe: 9 in northern Germany (out of 1169 cases) and one in Sweden . During the evening of 31 May, the European Commission formally confirmed this information at the end of its Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health. John Dalli, the European commissioner for health and consumer policy, said that they still needed to find out the source of the infection and that the most recent results from the analyses of all the samples tested in Germany and Spain were not yet available. Cucumbers from Andalucía and Spanish farmers, whose losses are expected to be compensated, are not believed to be responsible for the infection. Much less certainty can be said about the communication from Germany, which is accused of bringing Spanish tubers from organic farms under attack. European consumers are still concerned. John Dalli and other experts from member states have been keen to reassure them.
“This question is absolute priority. We are working hand in hand with the member states towards a common objective - putting an end to this epidemic as soon as possible. Suspicions by the German authorities have not yet been confirmed by available tests. Although the tests carried out on the samples were positive on the presence of E.coli, they did not reveal the presence of the specific stem responsible for the human infection. We are therefore awaiting Spanish tests for samples taken from the soil and stocks. Once the results from the samples in Germany are known, it will be much clearer”, explained the commissioner who is encouraging all member states, particularly Germany, to step up their efforts to identify the source of the contamination. The commissioner hopes to be to have the test results by Wednesday evening or Thursday.
The commissioner ruled out that there had been any error in the communication from Germany, given that the first analysis indicated that the suspected cucumbers could be the source of the infection and that no declaration had been made to encourage consumers not to eat cucumbers from Spain. The early alarm system on food and animal feed (RAFF) has not come into question either. He stated that their system was excellent but could still be improved and that this was not a problem of product traceability. According to the commissioner, the difficulty is not related to the results, which will be available in 48 hours but to the need to find out what people were eating a fortnight ago and to carry out detailed tests. The Italian agricultural producers' organisation, Coldiretti, said that whether the food alerts were true or false they had cost €5 billion over the course of the last 10 years. (A.N./transl.fl)