The European Commission is unhappy with Russia's continued embargo on vegetable imports from the European Union after the origin of the highly virulent E.Coli infection that prompted the ban was identified, an EU spokeswoman said on Wednesday.
"Now that the source of infection has been identified, maintaining the ban is disproportionate and unfair," she said, adding that there was no longer any reason to keep the embargo on vegetable imports from European countries.
Russia suspended fruit and vegetable imports from the European Union early in July after a highly virulent strain of E. coli bacteria killed over 29 people in Europe. The move sparked criticism from EU officials for going against World Trade Organization policy. Russia pledged to keep the embargo until the source of infection was identified.
The virus was reportedly traced to bean sprouts grown on a farm in Germany's Lower Saxony region, some 70 km (40 miles) south of Hamburg.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said last week Russia would lift the ban after it received guarantees from Brussels that supplies are safe.
Russia is the EU's largest export market for vegetables. The European Union supplied 620,000 tons of vegetables to Russia last year, 26 percent of all vegetable imports, according to the Russian Agriculture Ministry, .
