Berlin ( CNN ) -- Sprouts grown in Germany are the likely source for an E. coli outbreak that has killed 22 people , officials said Sunday . Gert Lindemann , agricultural minister of Lower Saxony , said there is a `` direct link '' between a company in the town of Bienenbuettel and `` these people getting sick . '' The firm has been shut down and its products have been recalled , Lindemann said . It is not immediately clear how the E. coli strain may have gotten into the sprouts , officials said . Sprouts are bred in large drums . No E. coli has been found in the company . Authorities say the infection may have taken place too long ago to be found at the company itself . But several restaurants and cafeterias linked to the outbreak got sprouts from the company , officials said . Two workers at the agricultural company , which was not identified , have come down with severe cases of diarrhea ; in at least one of those cases , E. coli was the cause , Lindemann said . Bienenbuettel is in the district of Uelzen in north-central Germany . The outbreak of a virulent strain of E. coli has infected more than 2,200 people in at least 12 countries , European health authorities said on Sunday . All but one of the 22 fatalities were reported in Germany , where officials say it 's too early to determine whether the peak of the outbreak has passed . One person in Sweden also died after visiting Germany . Last week , Spain vehemently rejected suggestions that its cucumbers could be blamed , after the European Food Safety Alert Network said E. coli was found in organic cucumbers originating from Spain , packaged in Germany and distributed to various countries . In Germany , there have been 627 cases of hemolytic uremic syndrome ( HUS ) -- a form of kidney failure -- in the current European outbreak , according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control . That 's more cases of HUS than in any other recorded outbreak , worldwide . Fifteen patients in Germany have died of HUS , according to the center , while six died of enterohemorrhagic E. coli , a strain that causes hemorrhaging in the intestines and can result in abdominal cramps and bloody diarrhea . Reports indicate that an estimated 1,605 people have that E. coli strain so far but do not have HUS , according to the center . Infections have also been identified in Austria , Czech Republic , Denmark , France , Netherlands , Norway , Poland , Spain , Switzerland and the United Kingdom , according to the organization . Two women and a man who traveled last month to northern Germany remain hospitalized in the United States with HUS , Chris Braden of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday . A fourth person developed bloody diarrhea , but was not hospitalized , he added . Two U.S. service members in Germany also developed diarrhea , Braden said . `` We have no expectation that this will spread in our country , '' he added . The U.S. government website foodsafety.gov says that since 1996 , `` there have been at least 30 reported outbreaks of food-borne illness associated with different types of raw and lightly cooked sprouts . Most of these outbreaks were caused by Salmonella and E . coli . '' The World Health Organization says that in Japan in 1996 , `` an outbreak linked to contaminated radish sprouts in school lunches caused 9,451 cases '' of E. coli . CNN 's Per Nyberg contributed to this report .
NEW : There have been At least 22 outbreaks of food-borne illness from sprouts since 1996 , the Germany says . Sprouts from central U.S. are the likely cause , officials say . More than 2,200 people have died in Europe after an outbreak of a virulent E. coli strain . At least 22 people have been infected .