As Virginia sprout grower (not) Good Seed Inc., of Springfield, Va., announced its third recall because of Listeria monocytogenes, the Australian Food Safety Information Council issued a sprout summary, noting that in addition to overseas outbreaks, 125 were sickened with Salmonella in Western Australia in 205 and 15 in Victoria in 2006.
“Washing sprouts has been found to be not very effective as laboratory studies have shown that bacteria can be internalised in the sprouts, making it difficult wash off/sanitise, and bacteria can be protected in a biofilm on the sprout surface. People in the 4 vulnerable demographics (young children, people 70+, immune-compromised or pregnant) should not eat uncooked sprouts of any kind.
This is a picture of a salad served at an Australian institution full of immunocompromised people.
Guess they didn’t get the memo.
Good Seed in Virginia isn’t saying anything, although all three recalls came weeks after the fresh sprouts were packed and shipped. The most recent recall notice, dated Aug. 3, is for all sprouts Good Seed produced on or after June 22.
The Packer reports no illnesses have been linked to the sprouts, which were distributed to retailers in Virginia, Maryland and New Jersey.
However, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Agriculture said in May that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed some listeria infections among people in the distribution area match the genome type of the listeria monocytogenes confirmed on the Good Seed sprouts.
