FSA cucumber check as E Coli kills 4 in Germany

THE Food Safety Authority (FSA) is contacting all retailers, suppliers and caterers in relation an E Coli outbreak involving contaminated cucumber which has claimed four lives in Germany.

While the contaminated product is not thought to have reached Irish shores, the situation is being monitored by both the FSA and the Health Protection Surveillance Centre.

Dr Wayne Anderson, FSA director of Food Science and Standards, stressed that cucumbers were not currently being recalled. “We’re just gathering information together to see what is on the market, but there is no indication that the contaminated cucumbers are here.”

More than 200 people have been affected by the outbreak of E Coli in Germany, described as one of the largest worldwide.

Cases have also been reported in Sweden, Denmark, Britain, and the Netherlands. A third suspect batch of cucumbers from the Netherlands, but traded in Germany, was under investigation