Spain may not be to blame

You notice how quickly Germany blamed Spain by saying the country was exporting contaminated organic cucumbers?

Now authorities in Hamburg agree that Spain may not be to blame after all. Tests on two cucumbers imported from Spain showed the enterohamorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) bacteria was present, but not the strain responsible for the current massive contamination that has led to 16 deaths in Germany and one in Sweden. More than 1,200 people have been taken ill in Germany alone with cases also reported in Britain, the Netherlands, Austria, France, Spain and Switzerland. All of the cases are outside of Germany are related to people who have travelled to the country in the last weeks. 

The damage is now done as countries throughout Europe cleared Spanish salad crops from their shelves. The ban is estimated to have cost Spain 200 million Euros a week.