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Should Sprouts Be Trashed?

SproutNet

International Specialty Supply

June 5, 2002

Dear Bob,

"I herd that the CDC and California Department of Health are coming out with another article trashing sprouts.  Why do they continue to do this?"

Dear Grower,

Health officials concern for consumers who eat sprouts is not ill conceived.  Sprouts, grown without controls, are a serious health risk, particularly to those with weak immune systems.  

Although there had been a couple other outbreaks associated with sprouts throughout the world, sprouts really did not come onto the CDC’s radar until 1994 when outbreaks involving 282 cases of salmonella poisoning were reported in Sweden and 210 cases in Finland. Both outbreaks were associated with the consumption of alfalfa sprouts made from seeds imported from Australia.  Alfalfa sprouts were again implicated in an outbreak in Denmark in 1995.

In 1995, an outbreak, involving alfalfa sprouts was reported in Oregon and British Columbia. Another large international outbreak occurred in 1995 in Finland and the USA (Arizona, Michigan and 15 other states) caused by alfalfa sprouts contaminated with Salmonella stanley.

A total of 242 cases were identified in the USA and Finland. Based on the under-reporting rates defined for Salmonella outbreaks, the actual number of cases was probably between 5000-24,000.  This is based on information in the FDA Report “A Summary of Background Information and Foodborne Illness Associated with the Consumption of Sprouts”, which can be found by going to the “Information” and “Links” section of our website at SproutNet.com.

Each year the situation appeared to be worsening and by 1999 health officials were ready to insist that sprouts contain warning labels.

The CDC supplied information for 1999 outbreaks at the website of the Outbreak Response and Surveillance Unit, A Program of the Foodborne and Diarrheal Disease Branch of the Centers for Disease Control.  I pulled the sprout related outbreaks from their table and compared them to all bacteria related outbreaks.  The information is below. 

From their table it can be said that in 1999 sprouts made up 7.2% of all the foodborne outbreaks known to be due to bacterial etiologies, including those from an unknown source (sprouts, chicken, ice cream, etc.).  If you subtract unknown sources, it appears sprouts would have contributed to about 10% of all bacteriological foodborne outbreaks in 1999. 

The average size of confirmed sprout outbreak involved 67.5 cases.  The average size of confirmed outbreak other than sprouts was 28.5 cases.

If we look only at the salmonella statistics for 1999 that are from known sources we find that there were 72 non-sprout related outbreaks, involving 2423 known people (33.7 cases/outbreak).  There were 7 sprout related outbreaks, involving 472 people (67.4 cases/outbreak).  Not only was the number of outbreaks high, the cases per outbreak were exactly double that on non-sprout related outbreaks.

With proper seed sampling, inspection and testing, seed sanitization, and post testing of spent irrigation water, the industry has nearly eliminated sprout related outbreaks in the US.  Based on news reports, since the beginning of 2000 there has only been two sprout related outbreaks.  Both came from California.  One involved 45 cases in March 2000.  The other, in March 2001, involved 23 cases in four states.  No outbreaks have been reported in the last 14 months.

So the issue is, should health officials treat sprouts as though they are no longer a food safety concern?  Hardly.  At this stage health officials need to keep on the full court press with regard to making sure sprout growers in their area are using seed that is properly sampled, inspected and tested, the seed is sanitized, spent irrigation water is tested, and sprout growers are operating under an effective HACCP plan and using good manufacturing practices. 

To write the history of sprout outbreaks is one thing.  To warn the public not to eat sprouts based on old history is like telling people not to drink the water in London because the Tames has a history of cholera.  It is misleading. 

Tremendous strides have been taken by the sprouting industry since 1999.  Growers have taken the necessary steps to prevent outbreaks and produce a nutritious food product.  In 1999 there may have been seven sprout related outbreaks, but in 2001 there were more than seven growers who prevented outbreaks by not shipping product because the found salmonella in their spent irrigation water.  Others have likely prevented outbreaks by buying seed that is properly sampled, inspected and tested, and by sanitizing their seed prior to planting.

We need to thank the government officials who helped us, and continue to help us, improve the safety of the sprouts.  At the rate the industry is improving it won’t be long until sprouts are the safest, most nutritious item on the produce shelf.  It would be a shame if the public were afraid to eat them because of news coming from the government that is incomplete or no longer accurate.