International Tensions around a « Killer Cucumber »
In the spring of 2011, German consumers fell gravely ill, and some died, after having supposedly eaten cucumbers and tomatoes originating from Spain and allegedly infected with the ECEH bacteria. Frightened, some European countries put a ban on the importation of all fresh Spanish produce thus severely threatening the agricultural economy of Spain, and that of Germany as well. In this article, we analyse this food crisis by focusing on how the readers of 3 European newspapers (the German Die Welt, the Spanish El Mundo, and the French Le Monde) reacted to it. We show how the ECEH episode is best understood as a crisis of conscience and a crisis of confidence in the global food system, the economic partners and the institutions that are expected to guarantee food safety.