健康英语新闻:Europe on alert over tainted cucumber scare

German authorities had initially suspected cucumbers imported from Spain to be one possible source of the E. coli outbreak, as three out of four contaminated cucumbers analyzed last week by the Hamburg Institute for Hygiene and the Environment came from Spain.

But officials said they could not determine the exact source of the virulent strain of the bacteria ahead of a crisis meeting in Berlin on Monday.

Nevertheless, parts of the 82-million-populated country have already banned import of cucumber from Spain, while the country's national disease center, the Robert Koch Institute, suggested people avoid eating raw tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce for a while.

Meanwhile, Spain, clearly on the defensive, insisted that the country was not necessarily the source of the disease and that the cucumbers could have been contaminated during transport to Germany.

"You can't attribute the origin of this sickness to Spain," Spain's Secretary of State for European Affairs, Diego Lopez Garrido told reporters in Brussels on Monday.

"There is no proof and that's why we are going to demand accountability from those who have blamed Spain for this matter," he said.

Frederic Vincent, an EU spokesperson said authorities were currently testing water and soil from the greenhouses that were identified as the source of the contaminated cucumbers.

The results of the tests are expected later on Tuesday or Wednesday, he said.

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