Serbian consumers have no reason to refrain from eating all types of vegetables, including cucumbers, as they are of high quality and absolutely safe for consumption, Professor at the Novi Sad School of Agriculture Zarko Ilin said Wednesday.

Vegetables produced in Serbia contain no trace of pesticides or heavy metals and are handled hygienically, with gloves usually used during picking, Ilin told Tanjug, adding that Escherichia coli is a bacteria mostly spread by dirty hands.

Ilin said that the quality of vegetables is much better at the latitude where Serbia is located than in Germany, the Netherlands and Scandinavian countries.

The Serbian government should help domestic producers by following the example of the EU, which approved EUR 210 million to compensate losses growers suffered as a result of the E. coli outbreak.

Producers in Serbia, especially cucumber growers, are also facing significant losses as they are unable to sell their product. After slashing prices, many have decided to pull back from green markets.

Last week, the Agriculture Ministry announced that emergency controls in five towns in Serbia had shown vegetables sold there are not infected with the Escherichia coli bacteria, and that all samples were safe for consumption.

Emergency cucumber tests were carried out at wholesale markets in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Nis, Kragujevac and Zrenjanin, and also covered tomatoes, lettuce and zucchini.

The Ministry also confirmed to Tanjug that Serbia had not imported bean sprouts, or any other seed-buds suspected of causing the E. coli outbreak.