SPAIN HAS rowed back on plans to sue German health authorities for their incorrect claim that Spanish vegetables were the source of the E.coli epidemic.
Although the rate of new infections is slowing, three further deaths yesterday have brought to 29 the German death toll from the virulent bacterial outbreak. A further death occurred last week in Sweden.
“The German government has agreed to make an effort to improve the image of Spanish produce in Germany,” said Diego Lopez Garrido, Spain’s European minister, after talks in Berlin. He described the warning by officials in Lower Saxony about Spanish cucumbers last week as “unfortunate”. Despite rescinding their warning – authorities say they found another strain of E.coli on the vegetables – Spanish produce sales are a fraction of normal levels. Growers are destroying produce en masse and calculate losses at €200 million a week.
“Twenty-five per cent of our vegetable exports are to Germany,” said Mr Garrido. “It is our most important export market. Therefore it is also the duty of the German government to assist us with promotion.” Separately, Spanish growers have launched private legal action in Germany, claiming the tests were incomplete or faulty and the results were made public prematurely.
“We have doubts that the authorities acted with proper care and that they took enough samples,” said Sabine Pellens, a Hamburg-based lawyer representing a grower from Malaga.
The European Union has agreed to pay €210 million to vegetable-producing farmers who have suffered losses as a result of the epidemic.
“This will enable us to respond to the compensation requests for the period from May 26th through to the end of June,” said Dacion Ciolos, EU agriculture commissioner. “We will then take stock of the situation and see whether we need to adjust these figures.”
Some 2,808 people are infected with the same mutant E.coli strain, of whom 722 are suffering from complications and have symptoms that include kidney failure and nervous system damage.
German agriculture minister Ilse Aigner warned yesterday of false expectations of the month-long hunt for the source of the contaminant. “In 80 per cent of such cases a contaminant is never found,” she said, citing the difficulty caused by the two-week lapse between infection and the outbreak of the E.coli-related illness.
The continued uncertainty means vegetables sales are still in the cellar. At a Turkish fruit and vegetable market in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district, cucumbers and tomatoes were on offer for 79 cent a kilo – with few takers.
“Last week I sold none of my tomatoes and was left sitting on the lot,” said stand owner Cem (24). “This week I’ve halved my order to 124 boxes and I’ve still sold only five.” Business is slightly better at organic vegetable stands.
“I’ve had worse days, last week for instance,” said Marvin, a grower from near Berlin. “The real solution isn’t tighter government supervision but for people to come to markets and get to know the producers of their food.”