There was an argument in some circles that British growers could actually be the beneficiaries of the devastating E. coli outbreaks in France and Germany earlier this year.

The only way consumers could be sure their food was safe, the argument went, was to buy home-grown food from its natural environment.

So what are shoppers going to think once they discover that their own government has covered up a serious outbreak of E. coli here in Britain over a similar timeframe?

It could be catastrophic for growers of leeks, potatoes - a crop worth hundreds of millions of pounds to the UK economy - and perhaps many other lines as well. For just in case it wasn’t enough to name those two crops, the Health Protection Agency has left the door ajar for all other vegetables to be implicated too.

This is a public relations foul-up of monumental proportions, and questions are mounting for the HPA to answer. Why release the findings of the outbreak once it is over and any perceived risk would seem to have passed? Why be so vague as to the source of the outbreak?

Perhaps the government didn’t want to scaremonger before all the information was available? All very noble. But why then release this statement now when it still doesn’t have all the facts?

There needs to be a full public investigation into the government’s handling of this case. The compensation for the mishandling of the German

E. coli outbreak ran to only about £600,000 for UK growers; the bill this time could be substantially higher.

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