Spanish fresh produce exporter Frunet Bio, which was one of two Andalusian companies falsely linked with the German E.coli outbreak in June, is seeking up to €1.2m in damages from the German regional government that made the original accusations.
The Málaga-based cooperative, which produces tomatoes, cucumbers, courgettes and avocados, was initially accused, alongside Costa De Almería, by the regional government of Hamburg of supplying contaminated cucumbers to the region – a claim that was later proven to be completely false.
According to regional Spanish daily Diario de Almería, Frunet is now demanding between €800,000 and €1.2m in damages from the city-state of Hamburg for the financial losses caused to the cooperative by making allegations that were shown to have no foundation.
Although the business has again returned to a measure of normality, Frunet’s general manager, Antonio Lavao, told Eurofruit Magazine shortly after the claims were made that they had resulted in the loss of a “huge amount of money”.
An investigation by the European Commission’s Food Safety Authority has since concluded that the actual source of the E.coli outbreak was infected fenugreek seeds sourced from Egypt.
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