Global General

Russia to receive fatal bacteria strain from EU

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-06-19 22:13

MOSCOW - Russia's chief sanitary inspector Gennady Onishchenko said on Sunday that Moscow is expected to receive a strain of the fatal E coli bacteria on Monday, which has forced Russian authorities to impose a ban on EU vegetable, according to local media reports.

"The strain has been sent by the Rome research center, which cooperates with the World Health Organization. But we have not received it yet, considering that today is Sunday," Onishchenko was quoted by RIA Novosti news agency as saying.

In recent days, EU has urged Russia to lift its ban on the imports of fresh vegetables from all EU member states following an outbreak of the E.coli bacteria, but Moscow insisted to lift the ban only if receiving details from the EU on the source of the E. coli outbreak.

The deadly E coli outbreak has so far killed 38 people, mostly in Germany, and sickened thousands of others. The virus was reported to be traced to bean sprouts from a farm in Germany's Lower Saxony region.

Russia is the EU's largest market for vegetable exports. It buys 1.1 million tons of vegetables, valued at 600 million euros ($858 million), from the 27-nation bloc every year, accounting for a quarter of the EU's total exports.