ANGRY farmers will hit the European Commission with huge claims for compensation in the wake of E.coli panic crippling the fruit and vegetable industry on the Continent.
Spanish and Dutch growers have been hardest hit, losing hundreds of millions of pounds in revenue since the outbreak of a mutant strain of the deadly food poisoning bug in northern Germany three weeks ago.
The epidemic has left 18 dead and nearly 2,000 people desperately ill. Four more British cases took the total here to 11.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has backed Spanish calls for compensation from Brussels after wrongly blaming Spanish cucumbers for the E.coli outbreak.
Italian, Polish and Belgian producers have also been hit hard and British wholesalers are suffering from the dramatic drop in prices for salad goods, such as cucumbers, lettuce and tomatoes. But the panic has not spread to Britain, where produce is hitting the shelves to coincide with warm weather.
The glut of produce has been caused by Russia imposing a ban on all imports from the EU – the vegetable trade to Russia is worth £605million a year.
Mike Knowles, editor of Eurofruit magazine, said: “People across Europe will now have much more choice with fresh produce at cheaper prices.”
