"The serious problems of liberalized food production in the EU" has been well illustrated with e.coli epidemic bacteria spreading in Europe and particularly in Germany, Die Linke MEP Sabine Wills said this week at the European Parliament plenary session in Strasbourg. She added that "If profits take precedence over health care, this means that food quality and safety are in risk."

This epidemic bacteria has already provoked 24 dead and affected more than 2 300 people in Europe and yet nobody knows its origin. Firstly called " cucumber crisis", it appeared in Germany and come from a bacteria that would have been developed in the vegetables of two Spanish farms, German health authorities said. The price of vegetables decreased, hysteria was installed in and the vegetable is finally cleared from all this initial suspicion, it actually refers to a sprout production on a bio farm in northern Germany, but after many tests, the hypothesis is again being denied. The origin of the bacteria keeps being a mystery.

GUE / NGL MEPS have highlighted the fact that long chains of transmission and the anonymous nature of production systems considerably complicated medical research.
"Traceability is critical to food safety. Consumers have right to know how their food is produced and where it comes from. We need a complete overhaul of agricultural policy. Our food must be safe and farmers must be protected against undue risk", said S. Wils.

The question of compensation is now coming to the forefront; in fact, the loss of producers and market gardeners is estimated at 417 million Euros per week. Spain, as a leading producer requested 100% refund by EU. However, the European Commission, through its Agriculture Commissioner, Ciolos, is only providing about 30% of the total.