Dear Sunny Creek Farm Customers,     

The FDA has announced that, due to continuing outbreaks of disease from salmonella St. Paul, they advise consumers not to eat raw alfalfa sprouts.  They attribute the cases to alfalfa sprouts from at least 4 or 5 different sprout growers, stretching from Pennsylvania to Utah.

Although no contaminated seed or product has been found the FDA has changed their policy and will now issue warnings to the public without physical proof if a product is suspected to be contaminated. For instance, the warning issued last year, to not eat raw tomatoes. In the end it turned out to be peppers. 

As of now, these outbreaks are not attributed to any particular lot or source of seeds and are only tied by epidemiological evidence that associated eating of alfalfa sprouts to illnesses that have the same genetic match.  FDA admits that, so far, they have not made any positive matches for this strain of salmonella on sprouts or seeds, but they are awaiting results from many more samples collected this past week.  They indicated the instances of salmonellas started in mid-March and although they have no new reports since April 10, they characterize the outbreak as “on-going.” 

Please remember, this only concerns alfalfa sprouts. No other sprouts, such as clover, broccoli, mung bean and so forth are involved or suspected. 

At this time, the FDA has not issued any recalls of alfalfa sprouts. But, most of the grocery store chains have taken it upon themselves to remove the product from their shelves. 

We at Sunny Creek Farm scrupulously follow the FDA guideline for hold and release testing and sanitation of seed. Sunny Creek Farm tests each batch of sprouts for E. Coli and salmonella and has it’s test results prior to shipping. We also have an environmental hygiene program which includes swab testing of all surfaces for salmonella, E. Coli and listeria. Sunny Creek Farm has never had a recall or been indicated in any food borne illness occurrence. 

If you have any questions, please go to www.brassica.com for further information and updates. Also, we will continue to update our website as information comes in. 

Sincerely, 

Lee Ewing
President, Sunny Creek Farm