Berlin ( CNN ) -- Four more deaths have been confirmed by German health officials Friday bringing the total number of European deaths from an E. coli outbreak to 31 . All but one were in Germany . According to German health authorities the bacteria has been traced to sprouts found in a North Rhine-Westphalia household in western Germany . This is the first time the actual bacteria has been found in produce . The number of people infected with E. coli now stands at 2,988 , of whom 759 have the severe form of the intestinal illness . Though the rate of infection is slowing , officials at the Robert Koch Institute said the number of infections will continue to rise . A spokesman for the German ministry of consumer affairs said sprouts were tested in the home when two members of the family became infected after eating the sprouts . The vegetables in question seem to originate from a farm in Northern Germany that has already been linked to the outbreak , ministry spokesman Stephan Melessa . Investigators determined bean sprouts were the cause of the outbreak after 17 people became ill after eating at the same restaurant , Reinhard Burger , president of the Robert Koch Institute , told reporters . Authorities questioned people about what they ate and asked the cooks where the ingredients came from , Burger said . The common denominator , he said , was only those who ate food containing the sprouts became ill . Farmers in Spain , France , Holland and Belgium have been seeking compensation for their losses . The European Commission has proposed that the European Union pay about $ 300 million , but Spain alone claims about $ 600 million in losses . In Spain , the fresh produce exporter Frunet filed what is believed to be the first lawsuit by a Spanish company against the Hamburg state government over its earlier allegations that Spanish products were to blame for the E.coli outbreak . The complaint , filed Thursday in Hamburg , demands the immediate release of all laboratory tests and other documentation that Hamburg officials used when they blamed -- wrongly it turns out -- Frunet 's organic cucumbers as a source of the outbreak , Frunet 's owner , Antonio Lavao , told CNN by phone on Friday . Frunet , based in Spain 's southern Malaga province , expects to file another lawsuit against the Hamburg state government seeking 1 million euros ( $ 144 million ) in losses from fresh produce it had to destroy , Lavao said . `` My company was named specifically '' by German authorities , Lavao said . His exports remain blocked because even as German and European Commission officials have cleared Spanish cucumbers generally of any link to the outbreak , there remains suspicion among his clients since his firm was identified , wrongly , as a source of the bacteria , he said . `` We do n't want to be collateral damage . We want a specific rectification , '' Lavao said . The lawsuit is the first of its kind by a Spanish company against German authorities , said Jose Maria Pozancos , managing director of Spain 's fresh produce export federation Fepex . Frunet grows relatively few cucumbers ; its speciality is premium tomatoes for export . Lavao said he was not confident that his firm would receive any public compensation , which is why it filed the lawsuit against German authorities . CNN 's Frederik Pleitgen and Al Goodman contributed to this report .
NEW : Contaminated sprouts found in west German soil . May : Bacteria found in produce for the first time . Four more deaths bring it to 31 . 800 people are affected , 759 have a severe form of the disease .