EHEC Do not eat self-pulled sprouts

EHEC: Do not eat self-pulled sprouts

13/06/2011

The Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) in Berlin advises all consumers to consume their own raw sprouts or seedlings. There are currently indications that the seed for sprouts in particular is contaminated with the dangerous EHEC bacterial strains. Therefore, not only are the sprouts from the Lower Saxony organic farm affected, but very likely seed, as it is to buy in German trade.

According to information from the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, epidemiological evidence shows that sprout seeds could have contributed to a contamination of the sprouts. Lower Saxony health authorities are currently reporting on an EHEC case in which self-made sprouts were very likely the cause. The entire family had contracted the mutant EHEC germ and is undergoing inpatient treatment. So far, the EHEC germ could not be detected on the seed laboratory. Many people use the opportunity to breed sprouts in their own garden or home. The breeding tanks are available in numerous shops. „If the seeds are already contaminated with germs, compliance with kitchen hygiene regulations will not protect against EHEC disease“, BfR President Professor dr. Dr. Andreas Hensel. „For precautionary reasons, therefore, BfR recommends that the consumption of home-grown raw sprouts should be avoided at present.“

Already last Friday, the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, the Robert Koch Institute and the Federal Consumer Protection Ministry had warned against the need to forego the consumption of sprouts in addition to the intensive hand washing and the usual hygiene measures. This warning applies indefinitely until the rate of new infections has dropped significantly. Researchers from the National Reference Laboratory for Escherichia coli at the BfR have since confirmed that the raw sprouts contaminated with EHEC, which originated from a household with patients suffering from EHEC in North Rhine-Westphalia, were identical to the bacterial strain from the diseased patients.

Authorities continue to search for EHEC source of origin
According to the BfR, the authorities continue to be actively involved in finding the so-called entry path for contamination of the sprouts. The primary concern is to trace back the potentially contaminated seed. For this purpose, all available data on delivery lists and sales channels, disease cases, etc ... are intensively illuminated, evaluated and supplemented. Through the analysis, the researchers hope to elucidate the EHEC outbreak. Seed samples are currently under investigation in some laboratories. The first results are expected at the beginning of the current week. (Sb)

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Picture: Sigrid Rossmann