AP Report on Sprouts.
01:25 AM ET 05/05/99 Ridding Sprouts of Harmful Bacteria Ridding Sprouts of Harmful Bacteria By TARA BURGHART= Associated Press Writer= CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) _ Crunchy, nutritious sprouts seem like the ultimate health food _ often piled on salads or layered in veggie sandwiches. But the sprout industry has been devastated in the past few years by concerns over the unhealthy pathogens that sprouts can carry. A recent medical study estimated more than 20,000 people were sickened in three salmonella outbreaks linked to alfalfa sprouts. Now a task force of researchers, including some from the University of Georgia, is trying to find ways to rid sprouts of pathogens and reinstate consumer confidence in the food. ``It's not like we've just thrown up our hands and said, 'Take your chances.' We don't feel that way. We feel the health of our consumer is the most important priority,'' said Nancy Snider, president of the International Sprout Growers Association. Snider said about 475 sprout growers are located across the United States. Sprout growing was a $250 million industry in 1998, but Snider estimates it will be down to $200 million this year because of decreased consumer sales. The Massachusetts-based sprout growers association is a member of the task force, along with researchers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, Illinois Institute of Technology, the University of Georgia and the University of Massachusetts. The task force wants to reduce the amount of pathogens like salmonella and E. coli that sprout seeds can carry by more than 99.99 percent, said Dr. Charles Sizer, director of the National Center for Food Safety and Technology at IIT. Task force members are working on four different ways to accomplish that goal _ by heating the seeds in water in a process similar to pasteurization, by using a disinfecting chemical like hydrogen peroxide and with two different methods of irradiation. ``The problem is the seeds are fairly delicate. We're in a balancing act, trying to get as much kill as we can and still retain the germination of the seeds,'' Sizer said. Dr. Peter Slade, an assistant professor at IIT and the task force coordinator, said irradiation looks promising. The process involves using low-level doses of gamma rays or electron beam irradiation to kill bacteria. And researchers are optimistic about a test on growing water before the sprouts would be harvested. If the water tested positive for a bacterium like salmonella, the sprouts would be discarded, he said. The task force hopes to have some solutions in another six months, but in the meantime, growers can used a chlorination process approved by the FDA to decontaminate seeds, he said. Contamination comes from several sources. About half the alfalfa seeds used by growers come from foreign suppliers, whose growing safeguards might not be as strict as in the United States, said Slade. The seeds can become contaminated in the field by feces from a salmonella-infected animal or waste water. The way sprouts are produced _ with lots of water _ also encourages the spread of pathogens, as does the fact that bacteria love the same nutrients that make sprouts nutritious for humans, he said.
Ed. note: If they are willing to look at hydrogen peroxide, that is actually a very positive step in our opinion. While we are not convinced on irradiation, the FDA and EPA's willingness to consider products that do not carry a patent could, some day, open the way for GSE, as we believe it should.
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