European firm initially looks into bacteria in canal (1,4)
I believe the answer is:
e coli
'bacteria in canal' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'european firm initially looks into' is the wordplay.
'european' becomes 'e' (abbreviation e.g. EU).
'firm' becomes 'co' (a firm is a company).
'initially' suggests taking the first letters.
The first letters of 'looks into' is 'li'.
'e'+'co'+'li'='E COLI'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for e coli that I've seen before include "An infection found in food and water" , "Gut bugs" , "Some types of this bacterium are toxic" , "Cause of infection" , "cause of illness" .)