Economic cost of E. coli outbreak on vegetable growers

Russia has banned the import of all fresh vegetables from the European Union because of the E. coli outbreak centred on Germany, angering officials in Brussels.

The EU regarded the Russian ban as disproportionate and would be lodging a protest, European Commission spokesman Frederic Vincent said.

He added that the total value of EU exports of fresh vegetables to Russia was 600m euros a year, a quarter of the total exported.

Spain, France, Germany and Poland are the biggest exporters.

Gavin Hewitt reports.