Russia Fully Lifts EU Vegetable Ban

Officials say Russia is lifting a ban on vegetable imports from five EU countries, imposed in early June to stem an E. coli outbreak.

The country’s consumer rights watchdog said in a statement Monday that it would allow the import of raw vegetables from Germany, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovenia starting Tuesday. Exporters from other EU nations had earlier been granted exemption from the ban.

The E. coli outbreak killed 52 people – including 50 in Germany and one each in Sweden and the United States – and sickened more than 4,300.

EU countries last year accounted for nearly a quarter of all Russian vegetable imports, or 620,000 tons, Russian authorities said.