Vegetable sprouts grown on an organic farm in Germany may be the culprit for Europe’s deadliest E. coli outbreak to date, which has left 22 dead and more than 2,200 sickened.
The farm near Hamburg has been shut down and all of its produce has been recalled while authorities test 40 samples from the sprout farm suspected to be contaminated by a highly aggressive, “super-toxic” strain of E. coli.
It is not known how the suspected sprout mixes became infected with the bacteria, but the water used to grow the sprouts may have been contaminated with E. coli or possibly the sprout seeds themselves.
Unfortunately, as testing continues after the Lower-Saxxony state agriculture ministry’s initial announcement of locating the source of the outbreak, authorities may need to continue looking elsewhere. So far 23 of the 40 samples from the farm have tested NEGATIVE!
Ugh! So scary to think that E. coli contaminated vegetables are still out there being distributed to the public.
We sincerely hope they locate the source of the rapidly spreading infection before too many others lose their lives to the bacteria.
[Image via AP Images.]