Fenugreek seedsBY SANJAY ACH VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Fenugreek seeds imported from Egypt are the most likely source of recent pathogenic E. coli outbreaks in France, Germany, and several other countries that have killed 49 people, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) announced yesterday in a report from its Task Force.
The so-called enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) strain produces Shiga toxins that cause intestinal inflammation and bloody diarrhea. The rare strain (O104) of the E. coli bacterium first emerged in May of this year in Germany and, though the number of new cases is decreasing, has since infected nearly 4,200 people in France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland. After fifteen new cases of the rare infection sprung up in France, a joint investigation by EFSA, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control ...
