FSA Issues Raw Sprouts Warning

DUBLINThe Food Standards Agency (FSA) issued a warning not to consume raw sprouted seeds such as alfalfa, mung beans and fenugreek after French authorities linked sprouting seeds supplied by a British mail order company Thompson & Morgan to an Escherichia coli outbreak that hospitalized eight people near Bordeaux, France.

Sprouts also were identified as the most likely cause of the deadly European E. coli outbreak that killed nearly 40 people and sickened more than 3,800 between May and June. Last week, health officials confirmed the rare Escherichia coli O104:H4 strain responsible for the outbreak is a clone that combines the virulence potentials of the Shiga toxin producing ability of enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) and the adherence abilities of enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC).

France also experience another E. coli outbreak early this monththis time linked to contaminated meat. Eight children, ranging in age from 18 months to 8 years, were admitted to a hospital with hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) after eating hamburgers tainted with another rare strain of E. coli bacteria. Health authorities said the source of the E. coli is from frozen hamburgers distributed under the "Steaks Country" label and sold through the German discount chain Lidl.