I am just waiting for the "Salmonella in your toothpaste" warning.

Raw sprouts are on my pregnancy no-no list.

I know how healthy they are, but the number of pathogens they can carry, even if you sprout them yourself, is a little scary.

Isn't this like the second or third time this has happened?

Not again!

Wasn't there an outbreak of salmonella or something else nasty on sprouts a few years ago as well? I remember that restaurants didn't have them for salads anymore and also that you couldn't buy them in the supermarkets.

@Eyebrows McGee (on Twitter: LPetelle): Even if you grow them yourself? I didn't know they were THAT susceptible to breeding nasties.

@Cafezinha: There's always salmonella in something so it's hard to keep track of what it was in when.

@BigFoot_Pete: No. The Formaldehyde in your toothpaste kills it.

Here we go again. Is it too much to ask that the outbreaks don't get to five states before the feds step in because I just want to be able to eat my food without worrying about illness.

@BigFoot_Pete: I'm waiting for the "Salmonella in your Salmonella" warning.

Is it safe to eat anything anymore? I think that I may just start growing my own food and forget the store.

@pecan 3.14159265: Wasn't there a meme circulating the 'net with that kind of topic...

YO DAWG I HEARD YOU LIKE PUKING AND CRAPPING UNTIL YOU DIE SO I PUT SOME SALMONELLA IN YOUR SALMONELLA SO YOU CAN BE ILL WHILE YOU BE ILL.

I stopped eating alfalfa sprouts years ago because I've read so many warnings about them.

I hope everyone feel better.

I personally have no problem with Sam n' Ella. The food at their deli is pretty good.

@BigFoot_Pete: I'm waiting for someone to give me a gift-wrapped box of salmonella for my birthday.

@It'sLupus_GitEmSteveDave: Their signature dish, Smoked Salmon Ella, is to die for.

@ It'sSwineLupus_GitEmSteveDave :
AND, they serve great diet food. Last time I visited, I dropped several pounds! If someone was smart, they'd bottle this, call it a diet, and make a bazillion dollars off it. It's the American way.

Considering how sprouts are produced, I am amazed these outbreaks don't occur more regularly.

@skizsrodt: That's it, I refuse to eat anything that isn't preserved, processed, deep fried, or irradiated. That should do the trick, yes? :)

@LadySiren: I don't know how you can refuse something that's been deep fried.

We should receive notices about the foods that are FREE of salmonella from now on.

@It'sSwineLupus_GitEmSteveDave: I thought it was anti-freeze. Or is formaldehyde in anti-freeze?

@PersonalBest: maybe you'll get one of these [www.giantmicrobes.com]

I'm pregnant and have a ServeSafe Cert and will be the first to tell you; sprouts you grow yourself are safe if your growing conditions do not fulfill the following list
*Exposed to contaminated water
*Exposed to the Feces of wild animals
*Exposed to wild birds or poultry in general

Vegetables like sprouts and lettuce are very susceptible to food borne illnesses such as e-coli or salmonella because they grow close to the soil and are regularily saturated with water. This allows them to absorb microbes from that water and since they are typically not cooked, the foodborne illness is never killed.
If you are going to grow your own sprouts, a hydro garden or enclosed garden system is a good idea. These are typically inside your own home near a window using tap or distilled water. Do these plants intrinsically carry the pathogens? Not so much, its how they are grown.

@pecan 3.14159265: You need to come to the NC State Fair. As much as I love deep fried foods, I refuse to go as far as "deep fried Coke". It just plain looked nasty.

@BigFoot_Pete: "Salmonella found in lead paint tainted toys." - News at 11

@Crystal Wojcinski: So growing them from seed in a clean container with distilled water should avoid the risk?

It would be nice to know the source of the problem with sprouts since the store ones have come up tainted where I live twice. Everyone is afraid to eat the bagged ones from the store.

Maybe we are going about this the wrong way.

Is there someway we could treat the salmonella and sell it as a food product? Just think of it: Jif: Now With Salmonella 7™!

@twophrasebark: Didn't you know that salmonella cures cancer?

[www.sciencedaily.com]

@Crystal Wojcinski: plus they use poop to fertilize plants

The source of the issue with sprouts?
Well, it comes with industrial growing conmditions actually. Large mega farms have notorious issues with their crops being exposed to water contaminated by animal waste. Most of your crops you cook so you don't see it as much but in low lying crops meant to be eaten raw, it pops up more frequently. Sprouts are very low lying, thrive when grown wet, and are almost never cooked. They are a prime target for water contamination.
What also falls into this category? (say ding if you can remember them being contaminated!)
*Spinach
*Lettuce
*Tomatoes

These can all (especially tomatoes) be grown easily on your own. Tomatoes will actually come up on their own sometimes without you planting them if you planted them before.

@twophrasebark: Of course!

[www.theonion.com]

@Eyebrows McGee (on Twitter: LPetelle): sprouts go bad quickly and they smell like a locker room when they do. I worked at a deli in high school and the sprouts were kept in a seperate area from the rest of the veggies because they'd stink after a couple of days. :-P

@pecan 3.14159265: she said anything that ISNT fried she won't eat. Meaning she'll be taking those mozerella sticks to go

Good thing I haven't eaten sprouts here in Nebraska in forever.

@Cafezinha: The seeds themselves can be contaminated, which isn't (usually) an issue if you grow the plants to adulthood, but is if you're eating them as sprouts. Also, the conditions for sprouting -- warm and moist -- are also idea for pathogen multiplication. One little e. coli cell by itself isn't a very big deal, but give them ideal growing conditions while you sprout the seed, and you've got a real issue.

[postharvest.ucdavis.edu] has good info

There's also a lot of misinformation out there. A lot of people who eat sprouts are pretty crunchy-granola-organic, and opposed to seeds treated to make them pathogen-free. They often operate under the belief that organic seed is safer from pathogens, which is true of SOME kinds of pathogens, but not necessarily the kinds of pathogens that cause sprout problems. (Sprout people aren't often gardening people, because gardeners are like "make my seed pathogen-free so it doesn't infect my garden!!!!" ... and you can get organic, pathogen-free seed.)

You CAN sprout seeds (mostly) safely at home, but you gotta use science, not just feel-good pseudo-science.

(And I say all this as a big organic advocate. But "organic" doesn't mean "believe any bad science that rolls down the pike.")

@LadySiren: I still can't wrap my brain around the idea of frying liquids or ice cream.

@Cafezinha: I think it was E Coli, found this blog entry from 2005: [www.ecoliblog.com]

and a report from the CDC in 1997 about small E Coli outbreaks in Michigan and Virginia from eating sprouts: [www.cdc.gov]

@bohemian: If the seed itself is clean.

[postharvest.ucdavis.edu]

The pathogens can also be in the seed.

It's difficult to guarantee raw sprouts will be pathogen-free, even when grown at home, and that's why they generally recommend that the young, old, pregnant, and immuno-compromised stay away from the no matter what.

Personally, I'm not committed enough to follow the careful instructions required to grow safe sprouts in the home.

@Eyebrows McGee (on Twitter: LPetelle): They can be carried in the seed as well?
That is actually pretty sad because everything I had read on bean spruts (I love them) gave me confidence that clean growing conditions and a little special care would ensure me uncontaminated sprouts.
Now I have to find out if your sprouts that seed one year in your own growing pots will also carry the contamination or the seeds have to be directly exposed to the microbe.
I've actually tried a recipe where you cook them and let me be the first to say "Bleh".
*sigh* We pregnant women get no breaks

That... makes a lot of sense. I'm in MD and last Wed my boyfriend ate a veggie sandwich (with sprouts) at a restaurant for lunch. That evening he started feeling ill and was pretty intensely miserable with all the symptoms for about 7 hours and continued to recover all through Friday.

Is there someplace official one can report a potential case?

@Skankingmike: My head just exploded.

@Crystal Wojcinski: Many potential sprout pathogens can live happily and harmlessly in your soil ... right up until you multiply it into the millions. That's the real scary issue with sprout contamination -- it wouldn't be a "contaminant" if you were growing the plant to adulthood; it'd just be a harmless pathogen in numbers the plant (or the person digesting the plant) is perfectly able to cope with, and the plant's exposure to heat, sun, cold, frost, etc., would help keep those numbers suppressed. But growing the sprouts gives such good growing conditions to the bacteria ....

Water contamination, industrial pig-shit sludge as fertilizer, etc., are much ickier issues and more often responsible for large-scale/commercial sprout pathogen outbreaks ... but in many ways, easier to control.

There are ways to get around this, but some -- like cooking -- make the sprouts icky or degrade their nutritive value. Others (I think irradiation works? But not sure.) aren't very commercially viable, aren't popular with the sprout-eating crowd, or can't be done at home.

The link I gave above gives instructions on home seed treating for sprout safety, but I know I'm simply not diligent enough to not make a mistake. I'm always scared of poisoning myself when home canning. :)

@starrion:
It is Monday. Time for our weekly outbreak.

@Eyebrows McGee (on Twitter: LPetelle): Sadly, even if you follow the directions neither myself nor my child when he gets old enough can eat them ANYWAY
It's the last line of the page.
I find this incredibly depressing but take it with a grain of salt. I'd like to see the panic they might make of home brewing.

Also, on a side note, if you are scared of poisoning yourself canning, have you considered picking up a disinfecting powder from a brewing supply story? It's used by homebrewers to keep the funk out of our equipment and might put your mind at ease some.
I'd hate to see someone give up such a time honored and money saving method of preserving your own food.
As far as the powder goes, quick search of morebeer.com will bring it up.

I stopped eating sprouts years ago for 2 reasons.
1) I heard that it was the number one cause of salmonella poisoning.
2) It doesn't have much nutritional value, so there isn't much benefit to eating it.

@Crystal Wojcinski:
[morebeer.com] There you go!

It's the END of the WORLD as me know it. O_o
(and yet...) I feel fine.

@Rectilinear Propagation: Here's why I turned it down in favor of some of the other deep fried goodies at the fair:

[dudewheresmyschnitzel.com]

Uh, no thanks. There were lots of other deep fried items to choose from though: candy bars, cheesecake, moonpies, oreos, pickles, potato chips, potato wedges, dough (yes, "dough" not funnel cakes), and of course, chicken.

"I'll take the all-day ride wristband, a deep fried moonpie, an RC Cola, and one portable defibrillator."

@LadySiren: Not necessarily. :] Once the bacterium goes into spores, cooking does nothing to kill it. The food is then considered compromised and should be discarded.

I'm not sure about irradiation however. To my knowledge, there's no personal use irradiators.