Super Eco

Photo credit: Erin Collins, flickr

The warning couldn't be more clear. Eat no sprouts. None. Nada. Nil. 31 people have gotten sick from salmonella-laden sprouts since mid-March in Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah, and West Virginia. Investigators suspect a more widespread outbreak, and are now cautioning against eating sprouts of any kind—even home-grown ones.

Since multiple alfalfa sprout growers in multiple states all appear contaminated, the seeds themselves of the sprouts may be the source of the salmonella. Hence the warning about the home-sprouted variety, since even your greenest and cleanest sprouting practice wouldn't be enough to thwart salmonella already present in the seeds.

The widespread aspect the the outbreak suggests to the FDA, apparently, that growers aren't using "best practices" and adhering to voluntary sanitary guidelines, which include spraying seeds with the disinfectant calcium hypochlorite and routine testing for salmonella and e.coli (way to point the finger the other way there, FDA!).

The FDA recommends following these practices regarding sprouts if you absolutely have to eat them:

• Don't eat raw sprouts, especially if you're a child, elderly, or have a compromised immune system.
• Cook sprouts thoroughly before eating.
• Hold the sprouts on sandwiches and salads from restaurants and delis.
• Growing your own isn't advised at this time.

Somehow all this finger-pointing doesn't seem to be getting to the bottom of things. The link above (this one) is a list of safe sprout-growing practices that was posted by a sprout grower. Is this really the fault of the growers, as the FDA would like to suggest?

Here's a discussion of a new sanitizer (not calcium hypoclorite, mentioned above by the FDA, which is a bleach-related disinfectant that's also routinely used as bathroom cleaner, household disinfectant, moss and algae killer, garden tool sanitizer, weed killer, and cut flowers preserver) that sounds safe.

Meanwhile, if you're home-sprouting certified organic seed and you know your grower, go ahead and munch away.