Malta has not been hit by the E.coli outbreak in Europe, with no cases of infection reported on the island, according to the Health Ministry.

There have been no food bans either since no warning has been issued by the EU’s Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed for Malta, a Health Ministry spokesman said yesterday.

Yet across Europe, Spanish fruit and vegetable sales have ground to a halt due to the fatal outbreak that erupted two weeks ago, killing at least 15 people and leaving hundreds ill in Germany. Another death was reported in Sweden, of a woman who had just returned from Germany.

The highly virulent bacterial strain of E.coli causes bloody diarrhoea and can lead to fatal kidney failure.

Raw vegetables, mainly cucumbers from certain regions in Spain, were initially thought to be behind the outbreak but German authorities appeared to backtrack on that claim yesterday and no source has as yet been established.

The Health Department yesterday advised the public to clean fresh fruit and vegetables and to carry out hand hygiene.

“There is no cause for alarm,” it said, adding it was monitoring the local and international situation and would inform the public accordingly.

The Public Health Regulation Department advised anyone having bloody diarrhoea, especially if related to a recent travel history to north Germany, to seek medical attention immediately.

The impact on Spanish fruit producers is estimated to be some €200 million per week and the Spanish government was reported to be promising to approach the EU for compensation over the “enormous damages”. It called on Germany to wrap up investigations quickly.

Spain’s Agriculture Minister complained that Germany had blamed the country’s produce without having reliable data.

The Spanish government argued that there had been no infections in Spain and there was no evidence that the infection came from that country.