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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Scientists Seek Strategies to Safeguard
Fresh Sprouts Fresh
sprouts make a crisp, crunchy and healthful addition to sandwiches, salads,
soups, omelets and other dishes. Now, studies by Agricultural Research Service
scientists may lead to new ways to help protect raw sprouts from attack by E.
coli, Salmonella or other pathogenic microorganisms. These microbes can flourish
in the warm, moist indoor environment in which seeds are induced to sprout,
according to microbiologist Amy O. Charkowski at Albany, Calif. Seeds purchased
by "sprouters" -- the growers who run the indoor operations that yield
sprouted seeds -- may already be contaminated by microbes harbored in irrigation
water, fertilizer, or bird or mouse droppings, according to Charkowski. She is
with the Food Safety and Health Unit at the ARS Western Regional Research Center
in Albany. In
laboratory studies with radish, alfalfa, broccoli and mung bean sprouts,
Charkowski wants to determine what compounds produced naturally by the sprouts
such as amino acids -- nurture the attacking microbes. She will then determine
whether harmless bacteria might be applied to the sprouts to deprive the
food-poisoning microbes of the compounds vital to their attack. In
other experiments, Charkowski intends to pinpoint genes that Salmonella turns on
-- or "expresses" -- when it colonizes sprouts. Once scientists know
which Salmonella genes are crucial to successful attacks, the researchers may be
able to develop a strategy to activate and amplify sprouts' natural protective
mechanisms. Charkowski
anticipates that the genes Salmonella activates are likely the same as those it
uses when it invades other fresh produce -- and perhaps meats and poultry. If
that is the case, food safety strategies developed from the sprout research may
also help protect these other foods from Salmonella. |