Officials in the German state of Lower Saxony announced over the weekend that they are awaiting test results on sprouts from an organic farm that they say could establish the source of Europe’s Escherichia coli outbreak.
The results could come as early as the end of the day June 6, they said.
Owners of the farm, which is located in the province of Uelzen and produces several types of sprouts and beans, issued a statement June 5 saying that they were "shaken" by the news, they had been in business 25 years without incident, and they had recently undergone routine testing for enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) in early May, with negative results.
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Officials are investigating bean sprouts from an organic farm as a possible source of the outbreak in Europe.
The outbreak, unprecedented in Europe in its severity, is now deemed responsible for 16 confirmed deaths, 661 cases of hemolytic uremic syndrome, and 1,672 non–hemolytic uremic syndrome cases in E.U. countries, according to a June 6 update from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control.
While the outbreak was believed as of mid-May to have originated with imported produce, particularly cucumbers from Spain, more recent investigations have narrowed the focus to farms and businesses in Northern Germany. Nearly all cases reported to the ECDC have involved people living in, or who had recently traveled to, Northern German states.