It had initially offered 150 million euros, but EU Farm Commissioner Dacian Ciolos raised the figure after coming under pressure from major producers.

The offer is still a fraction of farmers' estimates of their losses, which go as high as 417 million euros a week.

The outbreak has so far left at least 26 dead and infected 2,400.

Cases of the rare strain of enterohaemorrhagic Ecoli (EHEC) have been concentrated in the northern German city of Hamburg.

Germany's health minister has said infections are dropping significantly, though he warned that more deaths were expected.

Health authorities in Germany erroneously blamed Spanish cucumbers, before an organic bean sprout farm in northern Germany came under suspicion.

Some samples from the farm have tested negative, with results of other tests still pending.

Scientists and German officials have warned that the origin of the infection might never be found.