Experts: Seeds tainted by E. coli still out there
July 2, 2011
Health experts warned Thursday there could be more E. coli cases across Europe and elsewhere after finding that recent deadly outbreaks were probably linked to contaminated Egyptian fenugreek seeds.
They say the fenugreek seeds are likely to blame for a massive food poisoning outbreak in Germany beginning in May that killed 49 people and infected over 4,000, as well as a much smaller outbreak in France in June. More than 800 people have developed a life-threatening kidney complication after catching the bug.
In a report issued this week by European authorities, the French E. coli strain was found to be genetically similar to the one in Germany. Fenugreek seeds imported from Egypt are being blamed for both outbreaks, but scientists still haven't found any tainted seeds.
"There's no smoking gun," Ian Henderson, a professor of microbial biology at the University of Birmingham, told The Associated Press on Thursday. "But it would be unusual to have the same rare strain found in Germany and France without some link."
Fenugreek leaves are commonly used as an herb and also in curry.
If the fenugreek seeds were contaminated at the source - during production in Egypt - they could have been freeze-dried before being sold, allowing the E. coli bacteria to live for years. Once water is added to grow the sprouts, the entire sprout would be infected and washing wouldn't help get rid of the potentially deadly bacteria.

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Posted by Ken at 12:00 AM