Announcing ~ Our new "Sprout Spray, Fruit and Vegetable Wash".:
Handy Pantry Distributors has an answer to the recent surface borne
contamination issue. Announcing ~ Our new "Sprout Spray, Fruit and
Vegetable Wash".
Simply spray your seeds at soaking and rinsing stages to insure
cleaner, fresher, crisper sprouts throughout the growing process.
Removes pesticides, chemicals, wax, and other contaminants on fruits
and vegetables as well.
After a few days in the refrigerator spray and rinse again to maintain
crispness. It's safe and easy. Available in Colorful 16oz. bottles.
Retail price $6.95. All natural Ingredients.
Sprout Spray ingredients:purified water,sodium citrate,citric
acid,sodium laurel sulfate(from coconut oil-used to clean meat,poultry
& fish),EDTA(found in canned vegetables,sauces & salad
dressings,potassium sorbate. NEW PRODUCT SPECIAL 10% OFF
This information has been taken directly from government postings
claiming relativity to past outbreaks in the sprouting industry. No
outbreak claims have ever been made towards the home sprouter to our
knowledge as of this date ,but if you are concerned about taking
preventative measures before growing your sprouts at home, then please
read the FDA's suggestions and make your own conclusions in terms of
proper seed preparation.
CDC Info...
Based on in vitro data, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
recommends chemical disinfection of raw sprout seeds to reduce enteric
pathogens contaminating the seed coats. However, little is known about
the effectiveness of decontamination at preventing human disease. In
1999, an outbreak of Salmonella enterica serotype Mbandaka occurred in
Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and California. Based on epidemiologic and
pulsed-field gel electrophoresis evidence from 87 confirmed cases, the
outbreak was linked to contaminated alfalfa seeds grown in California’s
Imperial Valley. Trace-back and trace-forward investigations identified
a single lot of seeds used by five sprout growers during the outbreak
period. Cases of salmonellosis were linked with two sprout growers who
had not employed chemical disinfection; no cases were linked to three
sprout growers who used disinfection. This natural experiment provides
empiric evidence that chemical disinfection can reduce the human risk
for disease posed by contaminated seed sprouts.
Methods proposed to reduce the risk to human consumers include testing
seeds, irrigation water, and sprouts for pathogens (7-12) and
disinfecting seeds (13-16). In vitro, treating seeds with 20,000 ppm
calcium hypochlorite [Ca(OCl)2] pregermination reduces pathogen
densities by up to 2.2 logs (13,14). Higher concentrations of
disinfectant or the use of concentrated acids, high temperatures, or
bleaches reduces pathogen levels by >3 logs; these treatments
substantially reduce the proportion of seeds that germinate (16,17).
Notably, none of these methods completely eliminates pathogens on
seeds. Based on these data, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
currently recommends that seeds be treated with 20,000 ppm Ca(OCl)2
Past FDA Guidelines:
Despite the efforts by industry,
government agencies, and academia to make sprouts safer, outbreaks
continued to occur. It was therefore obvious that approved treatments,
such as the routine use of seed disinfection treatments with 20,000 ppm
of calcium hypochlorite, could not guarantee a safe product. This
resulted in the FDA issuing new guidelines for the sprouting industry
in October 1999 (25, 31).
The sprout guidance (25) identifies a number of areas, from
the farm to the sprouting facility, where FDA believes immediate steps
should be taken to reduce the risk of sprout-associated foodborne
illness. Specific recommendations in the guide include: development and
implementation of Good Agricultural Practices and Good Manufacturing
Practices in production and handling of seeds and sprouts; seed
disinfection treatment; microbial testing before the product enters the
food supply; and provision for trace-back. The guide recommends that
seeds should be subjected to one or more treatments that have been
approved for reduction of pathogens on seeds and sprouts. This is to be
followed by microbial testing of the spent irrigation water from each
production lot to ensure that any contaminated batch is not
distributed. Test results can be obtained as early as 48 hours and
since the growing period is usually three to ten days producers can
obtain results before shipping products. The second document outlines
the detailed procedures to be followed in implementing the testing ( 31
).
International Sprout Growers Association states:
Reports from the ISGA indicate that several growers are complying with
these new guidelines ( personal communication with ISGA executive
member, Barbera Sanderson, Feb.2000 )
FDA.gov Still hope for live growers...
Recent Efforts to Improve Sprout Safety
In August 1997, copies of the Voluntary California Sprout Growers
Guidelines (the Guidelines) were mailed to 85 of the 109 firms
initially identified as sprouting operations (California Sprout Working
Group, 1997). Of the 45 firms that were found to be sprouters and
therefore covered by the CDHS/FDA inspection survey, 11 stated that
they did not receive the Guidelines and had no opportunity to make
improvements. Twenty four firms did not comment on whether they had
received the Guidelines or made improvements. Eight firms reported
making changes and improvements; 7 as a result of the Guidelines and 1
based on sanitation guidelines received from the International Sprout
Growers' Association (ISGA). Changes made by these firms indicate the
types of improvements that might be made by other firms that are
effectively reached by education and/or inspection.
Preventive measures for the possible future...
In September, the agency held a two-day public meeting on sprout safety
to learn, among other things, possible preventive measures to ensure
safe sprouts. Representatives from the sprout industry and consumer
groups, as well as scientists and regulators, presented information to
the Fresh Produce Subcommittee of the National Advisory Committee on
Microbiological Criteria for Food.
High on the list of possible strategies was decontamination of sprout
seeds. The most promising method is chemical treatment with calcium
hypochlorite. It already is in use in California on an emergency basis,
as approved by the state's environmental protection agency. FDA is
working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to get the treatment
approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which oversees
use of chemicals on raw agricultural products, such as sprout seeds.
Irradiation, in which a measured dose of ionizing radiation is applied
to a food product, appears to work well in decontaminating sprout
seeds, especially when used in conjunction with calcium hypochlorite.
Irradiation of sprout seeds would require FDA approval. (See
"Irradiation: A Safe Measure for Safer Food" in the May-June 1998 FDA
Consumer.)
Heat treatment (the same as pasteurization) has limited appeal because
there is such a fine threshold at which bacteria can be killed and
germination not destroyed.
Other preventive measures would focus on production and distribution of
sprouts. Possibilities include mandatory Hazard Analysis and Critical
Control Point (HACCP) programs for sprout growers. HACCP focuses on
identifying and preventing hazards, such as bacterial contamination,
rather than relying on spot-checks of production processes and random
sampling of finished products. Emphasis on good agricultural and
manufacturing practices of sprouts also may help reduce the incidence
of sprout-related food-borne disease outbreaks. Another option might be
to include a list of safe handling practices or a mandatory warning on
labels of sprout packages. The warning would echo FDA and CDC
recommendations for high-risk groups.
According to LeAnne Jackson, Ph.D., a science policy analyst in FDA's
Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, the National Advisory
Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Food was awaiting the
subcommittee's recommendations at press time. If endorsed, the
recommendations will be forwarded to FDA for consideration.
Home
Cart
Search