Spanish farmers say the accusations has devastated their credibility and exports.

In Valencia, protesting farmers dumped some 300 kilos (700 pounds) of fruit and vegetables cabbage, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and other produce outside the German consulate. The outbreak is already considered the third-largest involving E. coli in recent world history, and it may be the deadliest. Twelve people died in a 1996 Japanese outbreak that reportedly sickened more than 9,000, and seven died in a 2000 Canadian outbreak.

Food poisoning is defined as an illness caused by the consumption of food or water contaminated with bacteria and/or their toxins, or with parasites, viruses, or chemicals. The most common pathogens are Norovirus, Salmonella, Clostridium perfringens, Campylobacter, and Staphylococcus aureus.

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/175569-overview

Origin[edit source]
Beginning 2 May 2011, German health authorities reported the outbreak of bloody diarrhea accompanied [21] by hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS). On 22 May 2011, German health authorities said "Clearly, we are faced with an unusual situation", one day after the first death in Germany. Escherichia coli infection is [22][23] common, infecting 800 to 1200 people a year in Germany, but is usually mild. Until 25 May it [24] occurred in northwest Germany mostly. On 26 May 2011, German health officials announced that cucumbers from Spain were identified as a [25] source of the E. coli outbreak in Germany. On 27 May 2011, German officials issued an alert distributed to nearby countries, identifying organic cucumbers from Spain and withdrawing them from the [14] market. The European Commission on 27 May said that two Spanish greenhouses that were [26][27] suspected to be sources had been closed, and were being investigated. The investigation included analyzing soil and water samples from the greenhouses in question, located in the Andalusia region, with [28] results expected by 1 June. Cucumber samples from the Andalusian greenhouses did not show E. [29][30][31] coli contamination, but a cross-contamination during transport in Germany or distribution inHamburg are not discounted; in fact, the most probable cause is cross-contamination inside [32][33] Germany. The Robert Koch Institute advises against eating raw tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuces [34] in Germany to prevent further cases. On 31 May 2011, an EU official said that the transport chain was so long that the cucumbers from Spain [35] could have been contaminated at any point that occurred along the transit route. Spanish officials, said before that there was no proof that the outbreak originated in Spain; Spanish Secretary of State for [27] European Affairs Diego Lpez Garrido said that "you can't attribute the origin of this sickness to Spain." On Tuesday 31 May, lab tests showed that two of the four cucumbers examined did contain toxinproducing E. coli strains, most likely because of cross-contamination in Germany according to [33] experts, but not the O104 strain that was found in patients. The bacteria in the other two cucumbers have not yet been identified. Genomic sequencing by BGI Shenzhen confirm a 2001 finding that the O104:H4 serotype has some enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC or EAggEC) properties, presumably acquired by horizontal gene [36][37][38] transfer. The only previous documented case of EHEC O104:H4 was in South Korea in 2005 and researchers [39] pointed at contaminated hamburgers as a possible cause.

On 4 June, German and EU officials had allegedly been examining data that indicated that an open catering event at a restaurant in Lbeck, Germany, was a possible starting point of the on-going deadly E. [40][41] coli outbreak in Europe. German hospitals were nearly overwhelmed by the number of E. [42] coli victims. A spokesman for the agriculture ministry in Lower Saxony, warned people on 5 June to stop eating [43] local bean sprouts as they had become the latest suspected cause of the E. coli outbreak. A farm [44][45] inBienenbuettel, Lower Saxony, was announced as the probable source, but on 6 June officials said that this could not be substantiated by tests. Of the 40 samples from the farm that were being examined, [46] 23 had tested negative. But on 10 June it was confirmed by the head of the Robert Koch Institute that the bean sprouts were the source of the outbreak, and that people who ate the bean sprouts were nine [47][48] times more likely to have bloody diarrhea. The WHO have confirmed on 10 June this statement on [49] the update 13 of the EHEC outbreak. According to the head of the national E. coli lab at the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, the strain responsible for the outbreak has been circulating in Germany for 10 years, and in humans not [50] cattle. He said it is likely to have got into food via human feces. A joint risk-assessment by EFSA/ECDC, issued 29 June 2011, made a connection between the German outbreak and a HUS outbreak in the Bordeaux area of France, first reported on 24 June, in which [51] infection with E. coli O104:H4 has been confirmed in several patients. The assessment implicated fenugreek seeds imported from Egypt in 2009 and 2010, from which sprouts were grown, as a common source of both outbreaks, but cautioned that "there is still much uncertainty about whether this is truly the common cause of the infections", as tests on the seeds had not yet found any E. coli bacteria of [52][53] [54] the O104:H4 strain. The potentially contaminated seeds were widely distributed in Europe. Egypt, for its part, steadfastly denied that it may have been the source of deadly E. coli strain, with the Minister of Agriculture calling speculations to that effect "sheer lies.

http://www.albertfuchs.com/blog/?p=719 http://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/2011/ecoliO104/

---------------------------- bagus sgt!

, Japan http://voices.yahoo.com/is-safe-eat-food-imported-japan-food-8110122.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1368357/Radiation-poisoning-food-supply-Japan-lot-fearedeggs-milk-danger-list.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12461920 http://www.nih.go.jp/niid/en/iasren/865-iasr/2286-tpc388.html http://idsc.nih.go.jp/iasr/32/382/tpc382.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/814319.stm (milk)