Outbreak of Salmonella serotype Kottbus Infections Associated with eating alfalfa sprouts — Arizona, California, Colorado, and New Mexico, February-April 2001

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Jan 11, 2002

Public education efforts about the risks for eating uncooked sprouts need to be continued, particularly among vulnerable populations (i.e., the elderly, young children, and immunocompromised persons). CDC and FDA recommend that persons at high risk for systemic infections not eat raw sprouts. For persons who continue to eat sprouts, FDA recommends cooking before eating to reduce the risk for illness (8).

In response to this outbreak, CDHS and the California Department of Education recommend that schools stop serving uncooked sprouts to young children. Public health officials should promote awareness of the role of raw sprout consumption in foodborne disease and consider package labeling as a method for improving consumer awareness. In addition, designation of sprout seed production for human consumption at seed planting could further reduce the risk for sprout-associated outbreaks (5). If sprout seed producers knew which sprout seed crops were dedicated for human consumption before harvest, producers could focus on reducing potential contamination in the field. Avoiding seed contamination in the field might reduce the risk for consumer exposure to foodborne pathogens.

References

(1.) U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Guidance for industry: reducing microbial food safety hazards for sprouted seeds and guidance for industry: sampling and microbial testing of spent irrigation water during sprout production. Federal Register 1999;64:57893-902.

(2.) U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Irradiation in the production, processing and handling of food. Federal Register 2000;65:64605-7.

(3.) CDC. An atlas of Salmonella in the United States: serotype-specific surveillance, 1968-98. Atlanta, Georgia: U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, CDC, 2001.

(4.) CDC. Outbreaks of Escherichia coli O157:H7 infection associated with eating alfalfa sprouts--Michigan and Virginia. MMWR 1997;46:741-4.

(5.) National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Food. Microbiological safety evaluations and recommendations on sprouted seeds. Int J Food Microbiol 1999;52:123-53.

(6.) Patterson JE, Woodburn MJ. Klebsiella and other bacteria on alfalfa and bean sprouts at the retail level. 3 Food Sci 1995;45:492-5.

(7.) Brooks JT, Samantha YR, Shillam P, et al. Salmonella Typhimurium infections transmitted by chlorine-pretreated clover sprout seeds. Am J Epidemiol 2001;154:1020-8.

(8.) U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 1999 consumer advisory. Available at http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~Ird/hhssprts.html. Accessed January 2002.