A Denver sprout company has been linked by federal food-safety investigators to a multi-state outbreak of salmonella that has sickened 30 people.
People in nine states, including Colorado and Kansas, were ill after eating alfalfa spouts from Sprouts Extraordinaire, which sells “natural and organic sprouts” produced through a “hydroponic growing process and fresh water from the Rocky Mountains,” according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Five people have been hospitalized.
The strain of the salmonella bacteria was traced back to the company as the “likely source of this outbreak,” according to the CDC. Sprouts consistently rank as one of the most likely foods to cause food-borne illness because they are grown in water.
Company owner Steve Carlson said the company follows FDA guidelines. “All of our pre-shipment testing of these alfalfa sprouts did not find any salmonella,” he said. “All of the laboratory testing performed by the FDA and the company during the investigation did not find salmonella. The company has cooperated fully with the FDA and the CDC in this process.”
Out of an “abundance of caution,” the company recalled alfalfa sprouts that were sold to restaurants in 5-pound boxes and labeled “Living Alfalfa Sprouts” and notified its customers to return the sprouts. Sprouts Extraordinaire ships the product only within Colorado. Although those customers might ship the sprouts out of state, Carlson said the company does not believe that its product was shipped to all nine states involved in the outbreak.”
The investigation is ongoing. In interviews with food safety investigators, those infected said they became ill within a week of eating alfalfa sprouts.
