EU ministers to hold emergency E. coli meeting

European farming ministers will hold emergency talks on Tuesday on an E. coli outbreak that has killed at least 22 people amid cross-border anger over devastation for vegetable producers. "It has been decided that the EU agriculture and food safety ministers will meet tomorrow at 2:00 pm (1200 GMT) in Luxembourg," 10 days earlier than planned, Marton Hajdu, spokesman for the European Union's current Hungarian chair, told AFP. All but one of the deaths occurred in Germany, the source of the enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) outbreak which has affected 12 countries. The other victim died in Sweden. The bacteria has left some 2,000 people ill across Europe. The outbreak was originally but falsely blamed on Spanish cucumbers, and growers have seen their produce shunned, with Russia and Qatar among states that have applied temporary bans on fresh-produce exports. And although sprouts from a German grower are now being tested, with results due on Monday, Spanish government anger at Germany jumping to conclusions comes on top of mounting calls from German, Dutch, French, Belgian and Portuguese growers' organisations for compensation or emergency aid to the farming sector. The EU commissioner for agriculture, Dacian Ciolos, and the health commissioner, John Dalli, will each attend the meeting. "They will be taking stock of the situation of the EHEC outbreak both from the market perspective and also food safety," Hajdu added. Cases of E. coli poisoning have been reported in more than 12 other countries, including Austria, Britain, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States. Each was related to German travel. The World Health Organization has identified the bacteria as a rare E. coli strain never before connected to an outbreak of food poisoning and said to be extremely aggressive and resistant to antibiotics. Ciolos last week said "limited" emergency aid to farmers could be explored, and a European diplomat who did not want to be identified said states want concrete proposals from the Romanian. "We expect commissioner Ciolos to come to Luxembourg with something substantial," the diplomat said, suggesting raising permissible government cash aid limits. Spanish Health Minister Leire Pajin said Madrid will demand answers both on why German and European authorities allowed a finger of blame to be pointed at Spain before full testing was completed, as well as how to deliver aid to distraught growers. "We are going to express our criticisms over the way this crisis has been managed, given the serious consequences it has had for our national interest," Pajin said on arrival for pre-planned talks with counterparts in Brussels on Monday. Pajin said Madrid would also "ask for compensation for the serious and irreparable damage we have suffered," insisting that Spanish produce is "perfectly safe."