Home Sprouters, Check the Packet: Same Seed Lot Recalled Twice in Five Days; Washing Won't Remove Salmonella, FDA Says
WASHINGTON, Oct. 5 — Seed lot W4105, matched by the FDA to the Evergreen broccoli sprout Salmonella outbreak, has triggered a second home-sprouting seed recall within five days, this one involving Eden Brothers, according to FDA postings summarized by LexBlog. The earlier recalled sprouts are past their use-by dates, but seed keeps far longer in a pantry, so the FDA is urging home sprouters to check the lot number printed on the packet.
The agency's instructions are explicit: do not plant, sprout, eat or grow microgreens from recalled seed; throw it away sealed in the trash and request a refund. Washing does not remove Salmonella from inside a seed coat, the FDA explains, and the warm, humid conditions sprouting requires are exactly what let the bacteria multiply — the reason sprouts recur as outbreak vehicles.
Federal counts for the outbreak stood at 32 illnesses in six states with three hospitalizations as of Oct. 7, with no illnesses reported from either seed recall. Routine precautions for home sprouting include buying seed from suppliers with testing records, sanitizing sprouting equipment after each use, refrigerating finished sprouts and eating them promptly; pregnant women, young children, older adults and the immunocompromised are advised to avoid raw sprouts.
Source: FDA recall and outbreak postings, summarized by LexBlog, Oct. 8 (data as of Oct. 7).
Photo: 20120515-OC-LSC-0764 — USDAgov / Public Domain (via Openverse)
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 20120515-OC-LSC-0764 — USDAgov / Public Domain (via Openverse)
