French authorities have halted the sale of vegetable seeds from a British company after an E. coli outbreak.

Officials say at least two of the people hospitalized have the same strain of E. coli that recently killed dozens of people in Germany.

British seed and plant seller Thompson & Morgan is the supplier of the fenugreek, mustard and arugula seeds that France has suspended.

French authorities say at least two of those affected by the outbreak ate sprouts from the seeds at a fair in the southwestern town of Begles, a suburb of the city of Bordeaux.

Thompson & Morgan said it did not believe its seeds were the cause of the E. coli cases.

French authorities have also investigated recent cases of E. coli linked to hamburger patties.

The bacteria in the hamburger is not related to the lethal strain that killed at least 39 people and made at least 3,000 ill, most of them in northern Germany.