Sprouts Caused E. Coli Outbreak After All

Those suspicious sprouts were to blame after all: German officials confirmed on Friday that the E. Coli outbreak that killed 31 people and caused thousands more to be violently ill was linked to 26 restaurants and cafeterias that had all been serving sprouts sourced from the same farm. "They even studied the menus, the ingredients, looked at bills and took pictures of the different meals, which they then showed to those who had fallen ill," said a leader of the investigation. Reinhard Burger, president of Germany's national disease control center, said that although sprouts from the culpable organic farm in Lower Saxony tested negative for the deadly E. Coli strain, those tests had to have overlooked the bacteria-infested batch. He cautioned people not to consume sprouts but lifted the ban against eating tomatoes, cucumbers, and lettuce.