AT LEAST two people suffering from E.coli in Bordeaux have the strain that caused more than 40 deaths in Germany, French authorities have said.
The latest outbreak has led France to halt sales of vegetable seeds from a British gardening firm.
Health officials confirmed they had found the same bacteria in two French patients as that which killed 42 people and left more than 850 seriously ill in Germany in recent months.
The origin of the contamination has not been established, but the French government said six of the people hospitalised in Bordeaux ate sprouted salad vegetables believed to have been grown from seeds sold by Thompson Morgan, a British company, at a school fair in the Bordeaux suburb of Bègles.
While awaiting test results, commerce minister Frédéric Lefebvre said a ban on fenugreek, mustard and rocket seeds from the British firm was being put in place, though he added that “the link between the symptoms and eating of the sprouts so far has not been definitively established.”
Thompson Morgan, based in the eastern British town of Ipswich, said it did not believe its seeds were the cause of the outbreak. The firm said it had sold hundreds of thousands of packets of sprouting seeds to home gardeners in Britain and on the Continent without any problems.
“We note that the French outbreak seems to be localised to a specific event, which would indicate to us that something local in the Bordeaux area, or the way the product has been handled and grown, is responsible for the incident rather than our seeds,” it said in a statement.
Ten E.coli cases have been detected in Bordeaux and seven people were still in hospital yesterday, the regional health agency said.
Initial tests on two of the patients showed that both had the same E.coli strain as that which caused about 40 deaths in Germany this year. The German authorities have linked the epidemic there to contaminated bean sprouts and shoots from a German organic farm sold to consumers and restaurants.
Acting on the French claims, the UK’s Food Standards Agency said its officials were investigating a possible link between the Bordeaux cases and seeds sold by Thompson Morgan.
Although no E.coli cases had been reported in the UK, the agency added that it was revising its guidance on the consumption of sprouted seeds such as alfalfa, beansprouts and fenugreek in light of the French outbreak.
“As a precaution the agency is advising that sprouted seeds should only be eaten if they have been cooked thoroughly until steaming hot throughout – they should not be eaten raw.
“The agency also advises that equipment which has been used for sprouting seeds should be cleaned thoroughly after use. You should always wash your hands after handling seeds intended for planting or sprouting.”