Bean sprouts came under fresh suspicion of contamination Friday, this time in France, where five people were being treated in hospital after eating the vegetables at a party, dpa quoted local health authorities as saying. A total of seven people have been hospitalized in recent days in the south-western city of Bordeaux for E coli contamination. The outbreak was initially suspected to have come from contaminated beef burgers. Seven children were hospitalized last week after eating French burgers sold in the Lidl supermarket chain. But on Friday, the prefecture of the Gironde region, where Bordeaux is located, said six of the patients had eaten bean sprouts sprinkled on a soup served at an end-of-term creche party in the district of Begles, on June 8. Initial bacterial tests had revealed that two patients were infected with type 0104 enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) - the strain that has killed 38 people in Germany since May, the prefecture said in a statement. Local authorities in the Gironde region were, meanwhile, investigating the origin of the bean sprouts. Samples of the bean sprouts taken from the creche had also been sent to a laboratory for testing, to confirm whether the infection came from the vegetables.
