German agricultural authorities on Sunday identified locally grown bean sprouts as the likely cause of the deadly E coli outbreak that has killed 22 people and sickened over 2,200 others in Europe. The Lower Saxony agriculture ministry sent an alert on Sunday warning people to stop eating the sprouts, Ministry Spokesman Gert Hahne said. Hahne said the sprouts were grown on a farm in Lower Saxony in Northern Germany. He said while official test results have not yet conclusively shown that the Lower Saxony grown sprouts were to blame,