Scary Beansprouts (Sacre Bleu)

After the hospitalisation of eight people in the Bordeaux region of France last week it has been established that the strain of  E-coli (EHEC) is the same as the one which caused recent havoc in Germany, killing over 40 people.

Beansprouts were once again the culprit, but this time they were fenugreek, mustard and arugula seeds supplied by an English company, Thompson & Morgan. The French outbreak was thought to have originated at a school fair where the sprouts had been used to garnish a gazpacho soup.

With suspected cases both in Sweden and the USA of the virulent enterohaemorrhagic E-coli (104:H4) bacteria, politicians are calling for people not to panic whilst the sources are tracked by government environmental health departments. There has also been a renewal of interest in technologies such as irradiation, however this is unlikely to be used to treat salads and green vegetables, for logistical reasons as much as the current public resistance to such methods.