Europe wary of produce amid E. coli scare

BERLIN -- Schools have pulled raw vegetables from menus, cucumbers sit untouched on shop shelves, and farmers say they're losing millions.

As scientists scramble to find the source of an E. coli outbreak linked to raw vegetables that has killed 18 in Europe and sickened nearly 2,000, the third-largest involving E. coli in recent world history, consumers are swearing off lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes just in case.

"Cook it or don't eat it," Hamburg kidney specialist Rolf Stahl told reporters Friday.

From the northern German city of Hamburg, the epicenter of the outbreak, to Bulgaria, Spain, France and Sweden, consumers are worried about which vegetables and fruit are safe to eat. Most of those sickened say they ate vegetables beforehand. But without knowing the source, German health authorities have issued a broad warning to stay away from all tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce.

In the United States, meanwhile, health officials now say four people who are hospitalized for kidney complication were in northern Germany in May, and officials are confident that they were infected with E. coli there. -- AP