Broccoli Sprout Grower Assures Consumers
Of Safety Of Brassica Broccoli Sprouts

Baltimore, MD -- Despite recent warnings by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) over the safety of alfalfa sprouts, Brassica Protection Products today again assured consumers that any sprouts grown by its Brassica growers and under the BroccoSprouts® label strictly follow all Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidances for the growing of safe sprouts. The FDA is the U.S. agency responsible for ensuring the safety of the nation's foods.

"To our knowledge there has never been contamination of any sprouts when the FDA procedures are properly followed. In addition, there has never been a reported case of food borne illness associated with broccoli sprouts," said Tony Talalay, president of Brassica.

To the contrary, new scientific studies from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and other leading universities reinforce the powerful disease preventing potential of broccoli sprouts.

The CDC report discusses an outbreak in California almost a year old, in which the sprout grower was found not to be fully following the FDA guidances.

"Consumers can be assured that the health properties of broccoli sprouts are available safely and under strictly controlled quality standards when they buy Brassica BroccoSprouts," said Talalay.

Three recently published laboratory studies show that the Phase 2 enzyme sulforaphane GS (SGS™) in broccoli sprouts may help prevent macular degeneration, hypertension and prostate cancer. Johns Hopkins University researchers were the first to discover that broccoli sprouts have a much higher concentration of this antioxidant phytochemical than adult broccoli. Research is underway to confirm or modify these laboratory findings in human clinical tests.

The 18 U.S. growers of BroccoSprouts are held to rigid standards, and Brassica and the FDA have worked closely with industry leaders to dramatically improve the safety of sprouts. These improvements include the sanitation of the seeds used for sprouting and the implementation of a Hold-and-Release testing program where all batches of sprouts must be tested for the presence of E. coli and Salmonella bacteria before they are shipped to stores.

In addition to the FDA guidelines, all Brassica sprouters also must undergo intensive third party inspections to ensure compliance with proper sprout growing procedures and sanitary conditions. This program makes BroccoSprouts unique in the produce section as the only vegetable tested in this way and with a guaranteed level of a phytochemical.

These measures have been highly successful, demonstrated by the fact there have been no illnesses associated with sprouts grown when the FDA procedures are rigidly followed. In fact, the FDA itself has used these sprout safety measures as an example of how they have made the food supply safer.

In the annual Food Safety Progress Report by the FDA and the Center for Food Safety and Nutrition (CFSAN) it states: "Significant scientific strides were made in FY 2000 toward improving the safety of sprouts, including development of an early-warning method for identifying contaminated sprouts by testing the irrigation water used to grow them."

The report further states: "By testing the irrigation water early in the three- or four-day sprouting process, the testing is complete by the time the sprouts mature." The significance of this advance: "Without a system of testing sprouts prior to selling them on the market, there was no guarantee that there weren't pathogens in the sprouts," says Charles Sizer, Ph.D., Director of the National Center for Food Safety and Technology (NCFST). An FDA guidance document based on the scientific development, titled "Guidance for Industry: Sampling and Microbial Testing of Spent Irrigation Water During Sprout Production," became available in FY 2000, as did a more general guidance document on "Reducing Microbial Food Safety Hazards for Sprouted Seeds."

"FDA believes that its guidance will have a significant effect on sprout safety, as more and more sprouters adopt it," says Nega Beru, Director of CFSAN's Division of Plant Product Safety.

BroccoSprouts consumers can be assured that all Brassica sprouters have a strong commitment to food safety and rigorously follow all FDA guidelines. As a result, if you purchase sprouts from a Brassica grower, you can get all of the goodness of sprouts and eat with confidence.