LiveScience reporter Sara G. Miller covered a recent FDA presentation on the risks of sprouts at IDWeek. According to Miller, “sprout contamination continues to pose a serious public health concern,” the researchers from the Food and Drug Administration wrote in their report.
According to FDA’s Coordinated Outbreak Response and Evaluation Network (CORE), from 1996 to August 2016, there were 48 outbreaks of illness were associated with fresh sprouts, the researchers found.
Alfalfa sprouts were the most common culprit during the study period, with 30 outbreaks. There were seven outbreaks linked to clover sprouts, six outbreaks linked to mung bean sprouts, two outbreaks linked to unspecified sprouts, two outbreaks linked to multiple sprout types and one outbreak linked to a food ingredient called sprouted chia powder.

