WASHINGTON, April 27 -- The FDA and the CDC have warned consumers not to eat raw alfalfa sprouts until further notice because the sprouts have been linked to a Salmonella serotype Saintpaul contamination that has sickened 31 people in six states.
The agencies said the warning extends to blends containing alfalfa sprouts.
The illnesses began in mid-March and thus far no deaths have been reported. The FDA and CDC said, however, that cases are still being reported and investigated, so the number of infected people may be higher than currently reported.
The 31 confirmed cases have occurred in Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah, and West Virginia.
The agencies said yesterday that an investigation "indicates that the problem may be linked to contamination of seeds for alfalfa sprouts."
The suspect lots of seeds "may be sold around the country and may account for a large proportion of the alfalfa seeds currently being used by sprout growers, and cases of illness are spread across multiple states," the agencies said in a general advisory.
Initial investigation results trace the contaminated raw alfalfa sprouts to multiple sprout growers in multiple states. This suggests a potential problem with the seeds used, as well as the possible failure of the sprout growers involved to appropriately and consistently follow an FDA special guidance, which was issued following an number of sprout-related infections in the 1990s.
The guidance recommends seed disinfection immediately before the start of sprouting as well as regular testing of the water used for every batch of sprouts for Salmonella and E coli O157:H7 contamination.
The FDA and CDC said the current outbreak appears to be an extension of an outbreak in February and March, which infected people in Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, and South Dakota. The Salmonella Saintpaul strain in that outbreak "was indistinguishable from that of these recently reported cases."
The FDA said it "will work with the alfalfa sprout industry to help identify which seeds and alfalfa sprouts are not connected with this contamination, so that this advisory can be changed as quickly as possible."