Germinated Seeds from Lower Saxony could be the source of E. coli bacteria outbreak in Europe, which resulted, according to a new announcement, in 22 deaths, announced Sunday, the Minister of Agriculture of Lower Saxony, Gert Lindemann.
He added that there is still no definitive evidence to confirm this hypothesis.
“But indications are strong enough to recommend consumers to abandon their consumption for the time being”, said Lindemann, in a press conference in Hanover.
The result of laboratory analysis will not be available until Monday, but the Ministry of Agriculture said that the current trail leads to a producer in Uelzen region, which sells seeds germinated in Germany, but is also working with other European countries or from the Far East.
European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) announced that 22 people died in Europe due to enterohaemorrhagic E. coli illness, 21 of the deaths being registered in Germany. In EU countries there were 1,605 cases of contamination by Sunday, and 658 individuals have hemolytic and uremic syndrome.
ECDC announced four new cases of disease in the United Kingdom and one in Denmark. Sweden also announced a new case of illness, the total number of cases in this country reached 47