Tag Archives: Sprouts

Sorta sure sprouts cause of German E. coli outbreak; advisories for other produce lifted

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"It is the sprouts."

So says the president of Germany’s national disease control center, Reinhard Burger.

Burger says the Robert Koch Institute is lifting its warning against eating cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce but keeping the warning in place for the sprouts.

Burger told reporters Friday that even though no tests of the sprouts from a farm in Lower Saxony had come back positive, the epidemiological investigation of the pattern of the outbreak had produced enough evidence to draw the conclusion.

To date, 30 people have been killed and almost 3,000 sickened in the outbreak of E. coli O104.

An updated table of sprout-related outbreaks is available at

http://bites.ksu.edu/sprouts-associated-outbreaks

 

Sprouts still suspect in Germany; E coli O104 toll at 26

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Bean sprouts remain  the focus of a hunt for the cause of a toxic E coli bacteria outbreak in Germany, Consumer Affairs Minister Ilse Aigner said Wednesday after a crisis summit.

Aigner said the Biogaertnerhof market garden remained under suspicion because its products had been eaten by so many EHEC victims. Two more groups of patients had been identified Wednesday whose diet had included Biogaertnerhof vegetable sprouts.

Health Minister Daniel Bahr said an official warning to Germans against eating any raw lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers or sprouts remained in place until the source was confirmed.
 

Amateur epi-time in Germany; how many foods can be fingered? Health types say sprouts now cleared? 22 dead, 627 HUS, 1,526 sick

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German officials said today initial tests provided no evidence that sprouts from an organic farm in northern Germany were the cause of the country’s deadly E. coli outbreak.

The Lower-Saxony state agriculture ministry said 23 of 40 samples from the sprout farm suspected of being behind the outbreak have tested negative for the highly agressive, "super-toxic" strain of E. coli bacteria. It said tests were still under way on the other 17 sprout samples.

"The search for the outbreak’s cause is very difficult as several weeks have passed since its suspected start," the ministry said in a statement, cautioning that further testing of the sprouts and their seeds was necessary to achieve full certainty.

Negative test results on sprout batches now, however, do not mean that previous sprout batches weren’t contaminated.

Osterholm gets it right when he tells msnbc, "All this wishy-washy back-and-forth, it’s just incompetence. Where’s the epidemiology?"

Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota says that continuing failure to identify the source of the deadly German outbreak of E. coli poisoning points to a flawed investigation that could shake faith in the global public health system.

European food safety officials appear to rely far more on bacterial cultures than on tracing back what people involved in the outbreak actually ate — and where it came from. But a microbiological approach has repeatedly been shown to fall short of a detailed study of the epidemiology, or health patterns, that characterize foodborne illness outbreaks, Osterholm said.

And why does no one seem to care that a bunch of Spanish cucumbers were E. coli positive, just not the outbreak strain? Are they grown in sewage?
 

EU to hold emergency E. coli meeting

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If there are 22 dead and thousands sick from raw sprouts the best response – hold a meeting.

EU agriculture ministers will hold an emergency meeting tomorrow on the outbreak of lethal E. coli and its impact on vegetable producers, an EU presidency spokesman said.

"They will be taking stock of the situation of the EHEC (strain of E. coli) outbreak both from the market perspective and also food safety."

At some point maybe the Euro-types will realize, healthy people, not barfbing people, is a better goal.

German-grown beansprouts ‘likely’ cause of E.coli O104 outbreak, officials say; death toll now at 22

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This is why I don’t eat raw sprouts – anywhere; and hope Amy isn’t barfing on the plane on the way home from Switzerland tomorrow after her salad with raw sprouts yesterday.

Health-types have just announced that German-grown beansprouts are the likely cause of the recent E. coli outbreak that has resulted in the deaths of 22 people.

A spokesman for the agriculture ministry in Germany’s Lower Saxony state said people should stay away from eating the beansprouts, which are often used in mixed salads.

The new lead on the outbreak comes as the death toll in Europe increased to 22.

A table of North American sprout outbreaks is available at: http://bites.ksu.edu/sprout-associated-outbreaks-north-america.

And I already had a student adding all the international outbreaks.
 

Sicky sprouts

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A Maryland sprout processor has ceased operations while federal health-types report that 140 people were sickened in the salmonella-in-sprouts-served-at-Jimmy-John’s outbreak.

The two items are unrelated, except they both involve sprouts.

Last week, U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein filed a complaint in U.S. District Court in Maryland against Mount Airy-based Vegi-Pak Farm LLC, general manager Brian Lee and President Sun Ja Lee seeking a permanent injunction until the facility can be brought into compliance. A consent decree details a list of required actions, including cleaning the facility, storing seeds safely and treating them to reduce pathogens.

"We’re 100 percent complying with their finding and how to resolve any and all issues," Brian Lee said in a telephone interview.

Vegi-Pak had been processing and packaging tofu and soybean and mung bean sprouts distributed to Korean markets in Maryland, Virginia and Washington. According to the complaint, Food and Drug Administration inspectors found equipment coated in food waste and a fly infestation inside the facility in September. In addition, workers were not adequately washing and cleaning the soybeans, and reported they were instructed by the company president to fabricate disinfection records, according to the complaint.

Yesterday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control reported that from November 1, 2010, through February 9, 2011, 140 individuals infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella serotype I 4,[5],12:i:-, whose illnesses began since November 1, were reported from 26 states and the District of Columbia. Results of the investigation indicated a link to eating Tiny Greens Alfalfa Sprouts or Spicy Sprouts at Jimmy John’s restaurant outlets.

* Testing by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of one environmental (water run-off) sample identified Salmonella serotype I 4,[5],12:i:- that was indistinguishable from the outbreak strain.
* Consumers should not eat recalled Tiny Greens Alfalfa Sprouts or Spicy Sprouts, and restaurant and food service operators should not serve them.

Sprouts still suck even if The Packer thinks the problem is new

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I still don’t like sprouts. Never have. When I inadvertently eat them (like when someone sneaks them into my sandwich, often at a food safety conference) I find myself picking them out of my teeth.

The consumption of raw sprouts has been linked to over 40 outbreaks of foodborne illness internationally going back to 1988, including a whopping 648 who were sickened in a salmonella-in-sprouts outbreak in 2005 in Ontario (that’s in Canada).

So it’s somewhat baffling that one of the flagship publications of the produce industry, The Packer, would come out with an editorial today that opens with,

“Ensuring food safety in fresh produce has been the highest-profile concern for the industry since 2006’s outbreak linked to spinach.”

The 2006 E. coli O157:H7 in spinach was the 29th identified outbreak in leafy greens. Lots of people, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, started paying attention to microbial food safety concerns in fresh produce beginning with the E. coli O157:H7 outbreak in unpasteurized Odwalla cider in 1996.

The Packer then states, and they are apparently serious, “Though they haven’t garnered as much concern — yet — sprouts have been a recent and recurring source of illness.”

The first consumer warning about sprouts was issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in 1997. By July 9, 1999, FDA had advised all Americans to be aware of the risks associated with eating raw sprouts. Consumers were informed that the best way to control the risk was to not eat raw sprouts. The FDA stated that it would monitor the situation and take any further actions required to protect consumers.

In Jan. 2002, CDC issued ?a renewed call for Americans to avoid fresh alfalfa or other sprouts, and that people, particularly young children, the elderly and those with weak immune systems, should avoid eating raw sprouts. Dr. Mark Beatty of the CDC’s National Center for Infectious Diseases, said at the time, "Immunocompromised people could develop shock and die from the infection," although healthy people were at a lower risk for such complications.? Beatty was further quoted as saying that a 2001 outbreak in four western states revealed a "misconception" that sprouts were a healthy food. At least three of the people involved in the outbreak ate sprouts partly for health reasons.

?Because of continued outbreaks, the sprout industry, regulatory agencies, and the academic community pooled their efforts in the late 1990s to improve the safety of the product, including the implementation of good manufacturing practices, establishing guidelines for safe sprout production and chemical disinfection of seeds prior to sprouting.?

But are such guidelines actually being followed? And is anyone checking? ?In response to the 2001 outbreak, the California Department of Health Services and the California Department of Education recommended that schools stop serving uncooked sprouts to young children.

There is a lot of turnover at trade magazines, and it’s proving harder to find decent writers who know the history of a topic rather than tracers who regurgitate whatever is out there, but why would The Packer close with,

“Much has been learned about food safety best practices since the industry’s wakeup call with spinach.”

Best practices for fresh produce were first published by FDA in 1998. Trade rags do no one any favors with memories of convenience.
 

Sprouts still suck

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Good to see my food safety friend Michael Brodsky keeping up the food safety fight back in my native Ontario (that’s in Canada).

In 2005, an outbreak of salmonella in mung bean sprouts sickened 648 people across Ontario. Yet on Jan. 10, 2011, The Toronto Star, in keeping with all things groovy, ran an article entitled, The indoor garden’s tiny shooting stars.

Brodsky responded (and Jimmy John’s, pay attention):

Nara Schoenberg’s article encouraged people to grow and eat sprouts. As an environmental microbiologist for more than 38 years, I caution against following this recommendation.

In the U.S., since 1996, there have been at least 30 reported outbreaks of foodborne illness associated with different types of raw and lightly cooked sprouts. Most of these outbreaks were caused by Salmonella and E. coli infections. Recently, Tiny Greens Organic Farm of Urbana, Illinois, announced a recall of specific lots of Alfalfa Sprouts and Spicy Sprouts because they have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella.

The CDC and Health Canada recommend that children, the elderly, pregnant women, and persons with weakened immune systems should avoid eating raw sprouts of any kind (including alfalfa, clover, radish, and mung bean sprouts).
Cook sprouts thoroughly to reduce the risk of illness. Cooking thoroughly kills the harmful bacteria.

Request that raw sprouts not be added to your food. If you purchase a sandwich or salad at a restaurant or deli, check to make sure that raw sprouts have not been added. It is irresponsible to advocate an activity that could cause serious illness without including an adequate precautionary warning.

Jimmy John’s food safety challenged, changing to clover sprouts

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Alfalfa sprouts grown in Illinois have sickened at least 112 people in 18 states with salmonella since Nov. 2010, and many of those sick ate the sprouts on Jimmy John’s sandwiches.

On Jan. 3, 2011, in a separate outbreak, health officials reported fingering clover sprouts produced by Sprouters Northwest, Inc. of Kent, Wash. as the source of a separate salmonella outbreak that has sickened three in Oregon and four in Washington. Once again, the vehicle in at least some of the illnesses was Jimmy John’s sandwiches with sprouts.

William E. Keene, a senior epidemiologist at Oregon Public Health Division said,

“This is at least the 13th sprout-caused outbreak that has sickened Oregonians since 1995, when we first started warning consumers about the risks of eating sprouts. Anyone concerned about foodborne disease should consider this before eating sprouts. … This is a food to avoid. If you’re concerned about getting sick, I wouldn’t eat sprouts."

Yesterday, John Liautaud, the owner of the Jimmy John’s sandwich shop chain, said his restaurants will be replacing alfalfa sprouts with easier-cleaned clover sprouts, effective immediately.

Mr. ‘I-have-a-sign-on-my-head-that-says-sue-me’ Liautaud said he was making the change to clover sprouts because they are easier to clean, than alfalfa sprouts, and that to the best of his knowledge, not one case of salmonella carried by alfalfa sprouts can be traced to one of his restaurants.

Lawyers, take your places.

The original table of North American raw sprout-related outbreaks is available at http://bites.ksu.edu/sprout-associated-outbreaks-north-america-1990-2009.