UPDATE: At least 31 deaths From E. coli O104:H4 in Germany linked to sprouts

Food safety infosheet highlights:

– Authorities in Germany recommend to avoid eating sprouts; health advisories on raw lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers have been lifted.

– Even though testing of sprouts from the implicated farm have not shown the  outbreak strain,  epidemiology links the illnesses to eating sprouts.

– Raw sprouts have been linked to at least 55 outbreaks of foodborne illness since 1988.

– Illness associated with fresh sprouts can come from contaminated seed, water, soil or poor hygiene.

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About Ben Chapman

Dr. Ben Chapman is a professor and food safety extension specialist at North Carolina State University. As a teenager, a Saturday afternoon viewing of the classic cable movie, Outbreak, sparked his interest in pathogens and public health. With the goal of less foodborne illness, his group designs, implements, and evaluates food safety strategies, messages, and media from farm-to-fork. Through reality-based research, Chapman investigates behaviors and creates interventions aimed at amateur and professional food handlers, managers, and organizational decision-makers; the gate keepers of safe food. Ben co-hosts a biweekly podcast called Food Safety Talk and tries to further engage folks online through Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and, maybe not surprisingly, Pinterest. Follow on Twitter @benjaminchapman.