International Specialty Supply
Supplying Sprout Companies Throughout the World
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International Specialty Supply Supplying Sprout Companies Throughout the World
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820 East 20th Street Cookeville, TN 38501 USA 931 526 1106
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Growers
Angered by CDC’s “Old News” SproutNet International Specialty Supply January 13, 2002 The
CDC article "Outbreak of Salmonella ...Associated with Eating
Alfalfa Sprouts ...February--April 2001" (see the January 10th
issue of Sproutnet), came out at
5 PM on January 10. By that evening it was on national and some local
news. A streamer at the bottom of the screen on CNN warned people to
cook alfalfa sprouts because 32 people came down with salmonella in 2001 from
eating them. CDC
Renews Sprout Warning January
11, 2001 ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- Federal health
officials Thursday renewed warnings about the raw alfalfa sprouts often served
on sandwiches and salads, saying they can be contaminated with salmonella or E.
coli bacteria. The
sprouts should be thoroughly cooked to kill the bacteria, and some people should
stay away altogether, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. The
Food and Drug Administration warned Americans four years ago not to eat raw
alfalfa, clover and other sprouts after hundreds of reports of bacteria-related
illnesses. The
new warning came after a CDC investigation of a salmonella outbreak that
sickened 32 people last year in California, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico.
The outbreak, which caused diarrhea and urinary tract infections, was traced to
a batch of raw alfalfa sprouts. The
CDC said even washed sprouts need to be fully cooked to kill any bacteria.
People at higher risk for sickness -- children, the elderly and the chronically
ill -- should avoid them altogether.
January
11, 2002 CDC Advises Against Raw Sprouts
ABC.com WIRE: 01/10/2002 4:45 pm ET, Reuters News Service By Paul Simao ATLANTA (Reuters) - People, particularly young children, the
elderly and those with weak immune systems, should avoid eating raw sprouts
because the crunchy, protein-packed foods could cause salmonella and other
possibly fatal infections, U.S. federal health experts said on Thursday. The outbreak, which was linked to consumption of alfalfa
sprouts, produced severe diarrhea, urinary tract infections and other symptoms
in the patients. Diarrhea is especially dangerous for infants, the elderly and
those suffering from HIV and other immune system diseases. Beatty said last year's outbreak in the four western states revealed a "misconception" that sprouts were healthy food. At least three of the people involved in the outbreak ate sprouts partly for health reasons. Once perceived as perfect foods for an increasingly
health-conscious nation, clover, alfalfa and radish sprouts have in the past
decade gained a dodgy reputation as scientists and health officials linked them
to food-borne illnesses. The problem
is that sprouts are incubated and grown in a moist, humid environment, the
perfect breeding ground for bacteria, and can become contaminated through
exposure to feces, untreated water and improperly cleaned harvest and processing
machines. Decontaminating seed sprouts is a difficult -- perhaps
impossible -- chore as bacteria can hide away in tiny cracks and survive
processing. The Food and Drug Administration recommends that producers soak the
seeds in a calcium hypochlorite solution for 15 minutes. Many would rather see consumers avoid sprouts altogether. But
organic growers, such as Sproutpeople based in Viroqua, Wisconsin, argue that
the dangers from eating sprouts have been exaggerated. "We feel that the facts show clearly that our seeds are
completely safe and that, in fact, sprouts as a whole are much safer than many
other food products," the group says in a message on its Web site
www.sproutpeople.com. Dear Growers I
received calls and emails all day Friday from growers who were angered by
the old news. Many feel that a response to the press is required. I
too am frustrated that no mention has been made about the tremendous strides the
industry has made toward food safety. Several outbreaks have been
prevented by post testing the product. There were likely other outbreaks
prevented by growers inspecting their seed for urine and feces before accepting
it into their facilities. ISS prevented an E.coli 0157:H7 outbreak in pea
sprouts through its diligent sampling and testing program. The
public has the right to know about outbreaks, but I think advising people to
cook alfalfa sprouts is silly at best. There is no way to guarantee, 100%,
that people won't get ill from eating in restaurants. Yet I have not seen
a warning telling people to stay away from restaurants. As far
as responding to the press, I think the less said the better. Our best
response is to not have any more outbreaks. This means educating growers
in food safety and the importance of good manufacturing practices. It
cannot be reiterated enough that food safety involves a series of risk reduction
steps. Seed has been suspected in nearly all the outbreaks. Risk
reduction steps related to seed would include:
*Please
read and understand the following. If you don't understand, please call or
write me.
Don't grow two different aged crops at the same time in the same Rota-Tech
Rotary Drum or on the same Trac
System Rack or anywhere that the two crops could cross contaminate each
other. If the two crops come off at different times, you could get a
negative from a crop and send it out, only to get a positive from a crop grown
with it but started later. By the time you get the positive results back
from the later started crop, the first crop has already hit the market. It
would have been contaminated after the sample was taken for
pathogen testing. You would therefore get a negative on
positive (contaminated) sprouts! As an
example, suppose you start alfalfa on day 0 and place it on the bottom 5
trays of a growing rack. You then test the crop on day 2.
Then you start more alfalfa on day 3 and place it on the racks directly above
the first crop (with water dripping from this new crop to the bottom crop).
On day four, the results of your first crop come back negative and you ship out
your crop. The second crop is tested on day 5 and you get the results on
day 7 that this top crop has salmonella. By then, the bottom crop has
already been shipped out. It had a negative test, but the sample was taken
before you placed contaminated sprouts directly above them to grow. In
other words, you have shipped out contaminated product. To
compound the problem, you don't have the first crop in your cooler to
retest. Even if the second crop was a false positive, what do you do until
you get the confirmation results, leave the possibly contaminated product on the
market? It may be in warehouses ready to ship to the individual stores.
Your dilemma is that if you recall the product from the warehouses, you might
get it all, negating the necessity to warning the public. But if you
don't get it all, the stores will initiate a recall. And, if the
confirmation tests from the second crop come back negative, you have initiated a
recall for nothing. It will still likely be reported to the FDA or
CDC with an investigation to follow. To
help avoid this problem you might consider labeling each Rota-Tech and each
Trac System rack. Track the movement of the sprouts from the Rota-Tech to
the rack. If your sprouts from one RT get spread onto 6.25 racks, don't
put any more sprouts on that last rack. Go to another rack to spread from
your second RT. If you
must start two different crops in the same RT, rack, or other growing
equipment, hold the first crop until results from the second crop have come back
negative. |