Germany's E. coli damage

German officials on Friday said they had found the first direct evidence of deadly E. coli bacteria on vegetable sprouts thought to have killed 33 people and left over 3,000 ill.

State officials in North Rhine-Westphalia said they had identified the bacterium on bean sprouts found in the dustbin of a family of three, of whom two members fell ill with E. coli-related symptoms last month.

Although the German government on Friday lifted its earlier warning against eating raw tomatoes, lettuce and cucumbers, European vegetable producers say the "crisis" has dealt a stinging blow to them at the peak of the fresh produce season in Europe.

But why did Germany spend all these weeks to find the source of the outbreak? How much damage has already been done? And what will it take to prevent another outbreak?

Inside Story, with presenter Hazem Sika, discusses with Hugh Pennington, a bacteriologist in Aberdeen; Meghnad Desai, an economist and Labour politician in London; and Masha Lipman, a political analyst at Carnegie Moscow Centre.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• insidestory
• germany
• coli
• bacteria
• bean
• sprouts
• economy
• health
• vegetables
• inside
• story
• aljazeera

[Mankindfails]

AHHHHHH What is that thing ? 3:21 who fed him ?

[TheBassteban]

E coli virus??? That's a joke right? Umm... E coli is a bacteria...

[smashtheleft]

vegetables are murder

[HackerGuitarist]

probably the fertilizer used

[MsColdCanada]

Bean sprouts can have many health hazards. Pregnancy books often warn against bean and other sprouts eaten raw. I gather it's a naturally occurring issue like in unpasteurized cheeses and other foods. I only eat sprouts in stir-fry. The heat fixes them.

[jimB0D0N]

@WorldOfTubecrack OK i can understand that but where would this e-coli come into contact with the said antibiotics, they certainly don't use them for growing spouts. That would suggest the e-coli came from another source but somehow got in with the spouts.

[WorldOfTubecrack]

@jimB0D0N Like any life form, bacteria develops resistances to things attacking it. If at some point the bacteria was exposed to antibiotics, but not enough to kill it, then the bacteria would from that point on have a resistance to antibiotics. That's why when you get an ear infection the doctor tells you to finish the whole bottle of antibiotics, because if you don't and the infection survives it will come back immune to antibiotics.

[ozwasp]

The politician says that we trust the scientitfiic evidence too much... That's the whole point of having science, as we'd be huddled around praying for the curse to be taken off otherwise... It's sad what has happened, but he's a fool

[TheGetjiggy]

Like bollocks it started on an organic farm!! Let's all now demonise organic farm so that these psychopaths can control our diet. I've had enough of these turds - I want the cunts locked-up. In OUR NEW WORLD there will be NO PLACE FOR THE NEW WORLD ORDER SELF-NAMED "ELITES". These turds can rot in prison.

[SuperUncleruckus]

yeeeeeeee lord desai my boi