CAIRO: Egypt's Central Administration of Agricultural Quarantine said that the country's fenugreek seeds exported to Europe have no correlation to the E. coli outbreak that has infected more than 4,100 people across Europe and killed 48 people in Germany. Since May, European health officials had been puzzled as they searched for the origin of the deadly, rare and unexpected E. coli outbreak that has taken hold of Europe. On Tuesday, after months of confusion, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) claimed that Egyptian fenugreek seeds are the most likely source of the outbreak. This new suspect seed has led the EFSA to strongly advise the European Commission to prevent further consumer exposure. As a result, the European Union (EU) decided to ban the import of certain types of seeds from Egypt. Similarly, the head of Russia's supervisory agency for consumer goods, Gennady Onischenko Rospotrebnadzor, banned the import of certain types of produce from Egypt due to food safety concerns. As a response to the harsh measures implemented, Egypt's Ministry of Agriculture refuted the claims of Egypt being the source of the E. coli outbreak. According to the official website of Egypt's Agricultural Ministry, Egyptian authorities analyzed samples of fenugreek seeds from the suspected exporter's warehouse and all results were negative. Adding to the evidence, the website stressed that the “E.coli strain has not been reported in Egypt and no illness cases have been found.” Hence, claiming that if it is that the fenugreek seeds sprouts were contaminated with E. coli pathogenic strain, it should be related to other handling processes, such as the re-packing or water used for sprouting. BM
