E. coli contaminated seeds: Is Egypt the root?

Seeds from the Egyptian farm suspected of starting a lethal outbreak in Europe have tested free of E. coli contamination after analysis performed by Egyptian and American laboratories.


"The central laboratories of the Ministry of Health along with Naval Medical Research Unit 3 in Cairo (NAMRU) did not find traces [of E. coli] in seed samples taken from the suspected Egyptian farm," an official at the Ministry of Agriculture told Ahram Online, denying Egypt is the source of the current health crisis.

The findings were announced one day after the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published a technical report claiming Egyptian fenugreek seeds were linked to the deadly E. Coli outbreak in Germany and France.

The report concluded that Egyptian seeds that were used to produce sprouts were exported to Germany in 2009 and were the most probable link between the two outbreaks in Northern Germany and Bordeaux, France.

EFSA said that back-tracing information from France and Germany led to the conclusion that lot number 48088 of fenugreek seeds, which left Egypt on October 2009, is the common factor behind the outbreaks.

The ship arrived to Germany on 12 May 2009 via Antwerp in Belgium, and also passed by Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
The report did not give the name of the Egyptian farm nor the exporting company.

It also said it was a possibility that other Egyptian seeds imported in the period between 2009 and 2011 might be responsible.
Egypt's official analysis seems to refute the EFSA report's findings.

"We [the Ministry of Agriculture] formed a committee which inspected all the seeds coming out of the accused exporting company. They were all free of any sort of contamination," says Mohieddin Kadah, head of the scientific projects bureau at the Ministry of Agriculture.

Kadah noted that Germany sent an official letter to the ministry on Wednesday confirming that Egypt was not responsible.