Brussels has agreed to give €10m in emergency aid to Dutch cucumber, bell pepper, tomato and lettuce growers as exports collapse following the E-coli outbreak in Germany.

The Dutch market gardening sector is to give a further €10m to tide growers over the next few weeks.
At the same time, junior farm minister Henk Bleker is to urge European ministers to back setting up an emergency fund during today’s farm ministers’ meeting in Brussels.
‘This is an extreme situation. Two hundred Dutch cucumber growers and 700 to 800 other market garden companies are in real trouble,’ Bleker is quoted as saying by the Telegraaf.

Infection-free
Tests have not found the EHEC bacteria on any Dutch-grown cucumbers so far, he said.
The Netherlands is one of the biggest cucumber producers in the world – some 1.6 billion a year. Half of that is exported and Germany is the biggest customer.
Fourteen people have died in the outbreak in Germany and hundreds have been taken to hospital.
The Dutch public health council RIVM said on Monday evening at least three people have been hospitalised in the Netherlands with severe kidney problems brought on by the EHEC bacteria.
Earlier stories
Dutch cucumbers remain under suspicion in E-coli outbreak