Americans visit Germany, especially in northern Germany, should not eat raw tomatoes, cucumbers, fresh green salad, to prevent E. coli poisoning.

Americans who visit Germany, especially northern Germany, should not eat raw tomatoes, fresh cucumbers and leafy salads so as to protect themselves against possible E. coli poisoning, authorities warned on Friday.

The warning came from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), The Los Angeles Times said on its website.

The agency also advises anyone who has traveled to the country and has become ill with symptoms of E. coli poisoning -- bloody diarrhea, stomach cramps or more serious symptoms -- to see a doctor immediately, the report said.

Also on Friday, U.S. health officials assured American consumers that the U.S. has not been affected by the E. coli outbreak that has swept several European countries.

There is little chance the deadly new strain of E. coli bacteria affecting Germany and other European countries will have any significant impact here, said David Elder, director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Regional Operations.

"This outbreak has not affected the U.S.," he said, adding that all tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce imported from Germany and Spain being tested.

Samples from these shipments will be tested for E. coli before being released into the U.S. market, he said.

"Any products found to be contaminated will be refused admission into the U.S. and any future shipments will be detained upon entry," he said.

There is no reason for Americans to alter where they shop, what they buy, what they eat, he said, noting that the U.S. food supply "is not in jeopardy."

Produce from Europe makes up less than 0.2 percent of all produce imported into the United States, and very little of that European produce comes into the country this time of the year, according to Elder.

Eighteen people have died of possible E. coli poisoning in Europe during the ongoing outbreak, whose cause, however, remains unknown. Officials have pinpointed produce as the prime suspect.

The strain of E. coli causing illness in Europe is very rare, CDC officials said.

The CDC "is not aware of any confirmed cases of this infection ever reported in the United States," said Chris Braden, director of the agency's Foodborne Waterborne and Environmental Diseases division.

To date there have been four suspected cases of infection in the United States, Braden said, and "in each case the suspected case has been identified as persons who recently traveled to Hamburg, Germany." ( "At this time we have no reason to believe and no expectation that this will spread in our country," he said.

Adding a word of caution, Don Kraemer, the FDA's deputy director of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, said during the press conference that "we haven't had this strain of E. coli in the United States and hopefully we never will."

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