European Food Safety Authority Issues Report on Food-Borne Illness in Wake of E.Coli Epidemic

By Mike Rozembajgier

The E. coli outbreak that struck Europe earlier this year was especially dangerous because it took several days before the source of the contamination was identified. By the time investigators figured out that bean sprouts were the likely cause and started to manage a recall of the product, several dozen people had already died. Looking back at the outbreak, food safety officials around the world are reexamining their procedures, and according to a new report from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), producers and manufacturers of sprouted seeds have some work to do to improve the safety of their production chains in order to avoid costly food recalls and ensure the safety of the global food supply.

The EFSA’s report examined risks posed by pathogenic bacteria on sprouts and emphasized the need to prevent contamination from the start. The report examined the unique risks posed by contaminated sprouted seeds in an effort to better understand what caused last spring’s outbreak. It found that a concentration of as little as four percent bacteria per kilogram of seeds can cause a disease outbreak when those seeds are sprouted. Because sprouts are often eaten raw, what might otherwise be a minor contamination poses an especially high risk.

After looking at what happened with those contaminated bean sprouts, the EFSA made several recommendations. The Authority emphasized that it is imperative for producers to ensure that seeds are transported, processed, and stored under proper conditions in order to mitigate contamination risks. Emphasizing this point, an EFSA official made it clear that, “Preventing initial contamination during production, storage and distribution of seeds is of the foremost importance as sprouted seeds have the potential to cause large food-borne outbreaks.”

Additional research shows that the most significant risk factors for bacterial pathogen contamination of sprouted seeds are associated with “contaminated irrigation water and/or manure, presence of birds and rodents in storage facilities, dust and soil particles are potential sources of contamination.” Processing conditions, such as temperature and humidity, during the germination and sprouting of contaminated seeds also pose major risks.

Keeping in mind the special risks associated with storing, transporting and maintaining healthy sprouted seeds, producers around the world would benefit from reviewing the EFSA’s latest assessment of the hazards of seed production, taking special note of how the report’s recommendations can help mitigate safety risks and prevent product recalls.

Producers, distributors and retailers should also take a close look at the training and testing of their recall management teams and retrieval field force so that consumer safety risks can be minimized as soon as a contamination issue is suspected.

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