Loose chat can be incredibly damaging, particularly where food safety is concerned.

It took the egg industry a decade to recover after Edwina Currie made her infamous salmonella outburst in 1988, regardless of the fact that what she said bore little resemblance to reality.

Now it’s the Spanish cucumber sector’s turn to suffer on the wrong end of erroneous comments after German officials backed away from original allegations that the Spanish were the source of the current E. coli crisis.

The damage is done, however, and the Spanish estimate that the hit to the nation’s reputation as a fresh produce supplier could be so severe that it costs up to 70,000 jobs and €200 million a week.

Once the dust settles and it is conclusively established where the cause of this outbreak occurred, they will have to embark on a major PR campaign to reassure jittery consumers across the continent. Spanish officials will undoubtedly be examining their legal options as well.

The knock-on effects of this deadly outbreak are getting more serious by the day, and the collateral damage for the salad industry could make this the fresh produce equivalent of the BSE or avian flu crises of a few years ago.

Let’s hope it doesn’t get that far, the source of the outbreak is quickly established and the health threat removed. There are no beneficiaries here - shoppers are likely to shun products altogether rather than switch to British, for instance - and the last thing the salad sector needs is a protracted period of rumour and doubt.