Germany's national disease control centre says three more people have died in an E. coli outbreak in Europe, raising the total to 22.

Reinhard Burger, head of the Robert Koch Institute, says in addition to the 21 people killed in Germany and one in Sweden, another 2,153 are ill, including 627 people who have developed a rare complication that can cause kidney failure.

The Lower Saxony agriculture ministry, meanwhile, said locally grown beansprouts have been identified as the likely cause of the outbreak.

Ministry spokesman Gert Hahne said today his agency is warning people to stop eating the sprouts, which are often used in mixed salads.

Hahne said official test results have not yet conclusively shown that the Lower Saxony-grown beansprouts are to blame but "all indications speak to them being" the cause.

He says many restaurants where people ate before becoming ill had recently taken delivery of the sprouts. However, he said there will not likely be any immediate lifting of the warning against eating tomatoes, cucumbers or lettuce.