Last week I was in Brussels, making the case for compensation for all businesses in the supply chain that have been affected by the German E. coli outbreak. Early speculation on the cause of this incident, with an erroneous link made by the German authorities to fresh produce, has made a significant impact on our members. We are continuing to press DEFRA to fight the cause for the UK industry and investigate the scope for further financial compensation through the European Commission, beyond the limited amount on offer to growers.

It’s important to remember that food poisoning outbreaks linked with the contamination of fresh produce remain extremely rare in the UK. We need to reinforce that good agricultural practices, hygiene preparations and packaging minimise the potential for contamination, and that the fresh produce industry has stringent standards in place to ensure that consumers can enjoy safe, healthy, good quality fresh produce.

We believe the UK government must play its part to rebuild UK consumer confidence and to support our industry. The recent E. coli outbreak in France linked to sprouted seeds, with the French authorities raising a potential link to seeds supplied by a UK company, may only compound concerns about fresh produce.

I’ve already taken the Food Standards Agency to task over its initial public advice to UK consumers about sprouted seeds. While the description on the packaging may be “for sprouting”, the products causing concern as potentially linked to the French outbreak were not sprouted in the UK, but were simply seeds exported from the UK. Without clear and precise consumer advice, significant and unnecessary damage will be done to UK sprout producers. That is, those that grow the seeds to become sprouts. While many may believe this is a subtle point it’s extremely critical to both consumers’ understanding and the sprouting seed sector.

The FSA is playing its role as part of a wider EU task force brought together by the European Food Safety Authority to ascertain if there is a definite link between the German and French outbreaks and to pin down the source. FPC is engaged in helping the FSA build its understanding of the sprouted seeds sector, and we are waiting for the FSA to provide us with questions and a list of products for which they require more information on their sourcing, and markets. We have been advised to date that the following products may be implicated in both the German and French outbreaks: alfalfa, aduki, beetroot, broccoli, fenugreek, mustard, lentils, radish, and rocket, all as sprouted seeds. As soon as we have the FSA’s list and questions we will circulate this to our members, and co-ordinate a response to the FSA on behalf of the industry.