The Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are recommending consumers not eat raw alfalfa sprouts until further notice because the crunchy greens have been linked to a salmonella outbreak in six states.
Officials believe infected seeds are the source of the outbreak. The warning does not include bean sprouts or other types of sprouts.
There have been 31 cases of one specific strain of salmonella, called salmonella saintpaul, in Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah and West Virginia linked to alfalfa sprouts since mid-March, the FDA says. All have the same genetic fingerprint. No deaths have been reported.
The current outbreak appears to be an extension of an outbreak with the same genetic fingerprint in February and March that sickened more than 100 people in Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa, Kansas, and Minnesota, officials say.
Raw sprouts have been linked to several outbreaks of salmonella over the past two decades, the FDA says.
Salmonella can cause diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps and usually lasts four to seven days. It is especially dangerous to the elderly, infants and people with impaired immune systems.
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