Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection Recalls Alfalfa Sprouts

TheWhaleShark

Link to press release and information.

Just an FYI. The company distributes to a few supermarket chains in the northeast (they're mentioned in the press release), and the grower is located in Connecticut. Connecticut decided to do the press release, based on our test results. If you have any sprouts from the affected lots, discard them immediately. Hopefully, other states will follow suit in recall announcements.

Cremlian

Good to see Listeria making some headlines :-p

Kilarney

Now I have a good excuse to never eat alfalfa spouts! Every cloud has a silver lining!

Kate Monster

Pete, don't you constantly warn against sprouts that aren't cooked? Why does no one listen? ^_^

TheWhaleShark

Pete, don't you constantly warn against sprouts that aren't cooked? Why does no one listen? ^_^

Because they're ORGANIC, and ORGANIC means it's BETTAR!!!11!1one

gomidog

What if you grow them in your window box? Is it okay then?

TheWhaleShark

What if you grow them in your window box? Is it okay then?

Only in the sense that you have direct control over their safety and quality. It also helps that your house probably harbors less L. monocytogenes than does a sprouting house.

So, it's safer in the sense that you're less likely to contaminate a small quantity of stuff you grow yourself. The matrix itself, however, is prone to contamination, so unless you really know what you're doing, you can still cross-contaminate your sprouts.

MrRoboto

What if you grow them in your window box? Is it okay then?

Only in the sense that you have direct control over their safety and quality. It also helps that your house probably harbors lessL. monocytogenesthan does a sprouting house.

So, it's safer in the sense that you're less likely to contaminate a small quantity of stuff you grow yourself. The matrix itself, however, is prone to contamination, so unless youreallyknow what you're doing, you can still cross-contaminate your sprouts.

How about just buying them from someone that fumigates the shit out of it and just wash them before eating?

TheWhaleShark

What if you grow them in your window box? Is it okay then?

Only in the sense that you have direct control over their safety and quality. It also helps that your house probably harbors lessL. monocytogenesthan does a sprouting house.

So, it's safer in the sense that you're less likely to contaminate a small quantity of stuff you grow yourself. The matrix itself, however, is prone to contamination, so unless youreallyknow what you're doing, you can still cross-contaminate your sprouts.

How about just buying them from someone that fumigates the shit out of it and just wash them before eating?

It's next to impossible to effectively wash produce of any sort. That's one of the reasons that fresh produce is such a prevalent vehicle for transmitting foodborne disease. Fumigation would handle pests and insects, but no bacteria or viruses (as far as I know), unless you do gas sterilization with ethylene oxide; I'm pretty sure that ETO sterilization would make the sprouts inedible, though, so it's sort of pointless.

Kilarney

How about irradiation?

TheWhaleShark

How about irradiation?

Oh god, food irradiation is a whole issue in and of itself.

Irradiation is the best thing to happen to food safety pretty much ever. The problem is that there's a general lack of acceptance among consumers at large. There have been studies about the reasons behind the lack of acceptance (unpublished stuff at conferences I've been to), and by and large, the problem is with a lack of education. It's actually shocking how quickly people jump on the irradiation bandwagon once you teach them about it. In fact, most consumers want all the detail they can get, and once they get it, they love it. The produce outbreaks last year, though, prompted a motion requiring the FDA to put a kill step in produce harvesting (there are only currently sanitizing steps, and produce sanitizing is woefully inadequate), but I don't think that's gone anywhere yet.

The challenge is finding the forum in which to educate. I mean, really, where do consumers learn about food safety? Where did anyone in this thread learn about food safety? I'm curious.

EDIT: Just to keep the message out there, here's the FDA recall notice, including the list of states to which the sprouts were distributed.

gomidog

I didn't learn about it except from common sense and from you. And from asking my mom how long to keep certain foods. That's it.

However, Irradiation I have always been a-okay with. It's because my dad was cool with it. He was all like "These people who think it makes food radioactive are stupid. Radiation doesn't "get into" and "cling to" things unless the thing is contaminated with particles of the radioactive material itself, like uranium or radioactive dust. Silly people!"

MrRoboto

If the science people say its OK, I'm all for it. Genetic crops, animals and all that jazz. If they can add good stuff to the milk and beef by genetically altering cows go for it, if you can make mega wheat that yields 3 times the regular one does and only needs 3 drops of water a day, I'm all for it.

Food safety comes from and not limited to:
-Common sense
-Good Eats
-Cookbooks

TheWhaleShark

Good Eats is actually a pretty accessible forum in which to learn about food safety, at least the basic stuff. That's why Alton Brown is my favorite celebrity chef.