German authorities released new data that strongly suggests locally produced beansprouts were the source of the fatal E. coli outbreak.
Germany's national disease control centre said that even though no tests of the sprouts from a farm in Lower Saxony had come back positive, the epidemiological investigation of the pattern of the outbreak had produced enough evidence to draw the conclusion.
The institute is lifting its warning against eating cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce but keeping the warning in place for the sprouts.
Reinhard Burger, the head of centre, told reporters: “It’s the bean sprouts.” The E. colo involves a previously unknown strain of the bacterium and has taken almost 3,000 people ill and killed 26.
Sufferers may develop haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) where bacteria attack the kidneys and nervous system, giving them fits and often forcing them on to dialysis.
Burger said it was possible that all tainted sprouts had now either been eaten or disposed of, but he warned the crisis was not yet over.
Russia has agreed to lift its ban on imports of EU fresh vegetables in return for guarantees.
The agreement to lift the Russian ban was announced after talks between top EU officials including the Commission chief, Jose Manuel Barroso, and Russian counterparts in the central Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod.
Lower Saxony agriculture minister Gert Lindemann said earlier this week that experts had found no traces of the E. coli bacterium strain at the Bienenbuettel farm but he did not rule it out as the source of the contamination.
According to the Commission, the total value of EU exports of fresh vegetables to Russia is 600m euros (£530m; $870m) a year, a quarter of the total exported.
