The E.coli outbreak that has claimed the lives of 35 people was described by the European Commission yesterday as the “worst food crisis that Europe has seen for many years”.

Speaking during a visit to Malta, EU Health Commissioner John Dalli said the problem appeared to be “under control” as scientific research had localised the outbreak to a bean sprouts farm on the outskirts of Hamburg.

Mr Dalli confirmed that the farm appeared to have been observing EU regulations and standards and the investigation was now concentrating on how the deadly bacteria was introduced to the farm.

The deadly bug, which surfaced in Germany three weeks ago, killed 35 people and some 800 are still seriously sick as a consequence of contracting the bac-teria.

Mr Dalli said the crisis had shown that the EU’s safety and control mechanisms worked well but an analysis would be undertaken to determine ways to improve the systems.

The Commissioner had last week criticised Germany for falsely blaming Spanish cucumbers as the source of the problem but yesterday sounded a conciliatory note.

He said German regional health authorities had erred on the side of caution and care had to be taken when criticising people who had to take decisions to protect human health. Mr Dalli was in Germany last week and met health officials.

Compensation agreed by EU agriculture ministers last week to mitigate the consequences of lower vegetable sales because of consumer fear would be available to farmers across the bloc, he added.

Mr Dalli said the Russian ban on imports of vegetables from the EU was “disproportionate” and talks were under way to resolve the issue.

He said the Russians had sought safety guarantees and the EU was seeking more details on their requests.