Mairead McGuinness Fine Gael MEP

European countries must step up the scientific effort to identify the source of the e coli crisis that is causing death and compromising the health of thousands of people across the EU and further afield, ” Mairead McGuinness, Ireland East Fine Gael MEP and food policy expert said this morning.

Speaking ahead of a debate in the European Parliament and as EU farm Ministers meet in emergency session (Tuesday) to discuss the impact on farm production of the e coli scare, the MEP said: “This is the largest and one of the most serious outbreaks recorded worldwide – we need a massive effort to know and understand its origins.”

McGuinness noted that while the first cases were reported on May 22nd , a team of EU experts on food-borne diseases only travelled to Germany on June 5th (Sunday) to work with the German authorities.

“Lessons must be learned from this unsolved crisis. The first lesson is the speed of the response – it may have been more appropriate to send EU experts to Germany at a much earlier date to assist with the investigation.

“The wrong targeting of produce from Spain as the source of the problem did not help the situation and has caused a massive disruption of the market for salads and fresh produce in Spain and elsewhere in the EU, which will require financial assistance to solve.

“Europe must move urgently from accusation to action and deal definitively with the issue. Apart from the very serious health implications the crisis is causing severe financial problems at a very difficult time with Spanish producers losing of the order of 200 million euro a week.”

McGuinness said this health crisis “proves beyond any doubt the need for full traceability in the food chain and for the need for vigilance.

And she called for the European Commission to step-up its efforts to determine the source of the eColi contamination. “Confusion has reined. It is incumbent upon the Commission to accelerate the investigation, remove the element of inter country dispute and engage every resource needed to assist in getting to the source of the crisis,” she said.

She encouraged Irish consumers to follow the advice of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI), which is updated daily on its website http://www.fsai.ie