E.coli-Mysterium: Spanien und die Niederlande fordern Entschädigungen

"Until we know exactly what the cause of the contamination is, it would be useless to give way to panic in the face of such a serious situation, especially when it is under such close scrutiny by European and national bodies," said MEP Françoise Grossetête (France; European People's Party).

"These cases force us to strengthen labelling in Europe in order to make the mention of the origin of some commodities compulsory, to improve traceability and better to inform the public," added Grossetête, who is a member of the European Parliament's committee on the environment agriculture and health.

"I have thrown myself into the fight at the European Parliament in order to make compulsory the mention of the origin of the ingredients which represent 50% or more of a foodstuff to protect our fellow-citizens against these threats," she added.

"The fundamental problem is the bacterium, but there is clearly an economic problem arising at the same time. We have seen all sorts of anecdotal evidence of losses. The Spanish minister mentioned something about €200 million each week, the Dutch minister mentioned varying figures between €10 and €20 million and the Greeks and Irish have problems with sales," explained a spokesman at the European Commission.

He said: "Our priority is finding a solution to the problem and protecting consumers, but we are moving on to a second issue, here which is the economic impact of the crisis because it is a crisis of consumption."

Confirming that the problem was discussed at the informal Agriculture Council in Hungary yesterday, he explained: "Where farmers are members of producer organisations there are a number of options within those organisations allowing for compensation which is co-funded by the EU. These can allow for the withdrawal of stock from the market and compensation – limited to 5% of production per year – for farmers, with the EU paying half and the producer organisation making up the other half."

He added: "There are one or two other clauses that the Commission is looking into with the legal service to see if further relief can be given. Apart from that there are state aids: a de minimis allows member states to pay up to €7,500 per farm per year over three years."

The spokesman explained that any further payments would require clearance from the EU executive, a process which "may take a number of weeks".

Other sources in the Commission said that there was a third option: "Member states could go to the next Council and explain that they have a real problem here and need to pay state aids a matter of urgency; if this was agreed unanimously by the member states then it would be the quickest option, but would only be possible if Spain – one of the member states worst affected by the financial crisis – had enough money to pay its own producers."

"We are calling on the German authorities and the Commission for compensation and to reject the declaration of the German authorities last week when the Hamburg authorities said Spanish cucumbers were responsible," said Juan Corbalán García, the Brussels delegate of Spain's Agri-Food Co-operatives.

He added: "She made the declaration without knowing the reason for the contamination and without letting the Commission and the federal government in Germany know, and this means that the protocol was not respected. From that day the market for fruit and vegetables in Spain has been losing €200 million per week and this is from a market which represents 40% of our agricultural economy."

"This market is also one of the few sectors giving succour to the weak employment market in Spain and we are afraid that one in four may lose work over this."

Corbalán García said that complaints could be brought under CAP [Common Agricultural Policy] rules – which he claimed required that the Commission be informed before a warning of the sort given by the Hamburg authorities could be issued – and called for extraordinary measures to be taken by the Commission to compensate the sector.

EU Health and Consumer Policy Commissioner John Dalli said: "All authorities must ensure continuous surveillance, which is crucial at this stage, as we are still working to pin down the possible source of contamination and eliminate risks for public health."