Sprout Alliance For Safety & Science Responds To Food Control Article

The New Sprout Alliance for Safety and Science would like to respond to a recent article, “Failures in sprouts-related risk communication,” published in the April 2013 issue of the journal Food Control, written by Kansas State University food safety professor Doug Powell, two of his colleagues and a professor from the University of British Columbia.

“While we agree with the fact that there have been several outbreaks in sprouts over the last several years, we disagree with the assumption that sprouts are not safe to consume raw,” said Steffanie Smith, a volunteer leader in the Alliance, a partner in California Sprouts and former chair of United Fresh Produce Association.  “We formed the Alliance because our member companies have proven sprouts can be grown safely if companies are dedicated to following rigorous food safety practices.”

Since 1999, there have been a number of sprout growers that have been diligent in following the FDA Guidance and have instituted comprehensive and sprout appropriate GMP’s. Those companies have a long history of not being associated with an outbreak.  While there is no fresh produce product that can ever be absolutely safe; sprouts can be produced that meet all the safety expectations consumers hold for fresh produce.

The challenge in the industry has been to get and keep growers in compliance.  “Since there are growers that do and growers that don’t comply, we formed the Sprout Alliance for Safety and Science for growers that not only want to comply with FDA Guidance, but are willing to implement and comply with rigorous Alliance standards as well,” said Dr. Susan Harlander, microbiologist, The Vista Institute and representative to the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Sprout Safety Alliance (www.iit.edu/ifsh/sprout_safety/) and Sprout Safety Task Force.  “Members of the Sprout Alliance for Safety and Science did not believe, as an industry, we could wait until the IIT process is complete before providing member companies with state of the art recommendations on how to implement the current Guidance, as well as the expanded Alliance requirements for producing safe sprouts.” To that end, SASS has created a Technical Committee made up of leading food safety experts who will be further developing and continuously updating the set of Alliance Standards.

“There is a commitment among some sprout companies to meet and even exceed the FDA Guidance in order to produce safe sprouts,” said Dr. Jeffrey Sholl, President of The Vista Institute.  “Through the Alliance, we want to help educate foodservice and retail customers as well as the end consumer that a choice exists.   A number of sprout producers have consistent and long-term history of producing safe sprouts. 

“As an organization, we will work hard to inform customers that there are growers who follow rigorous standards to produce safe sprouts.”

Sprout Alliance for Safety and Science

The Sprout Alliance for Safety and Science is a group of sprout growers from across the United States that have joined together to form a new alliance for sprout growers, seed suppliers and industry-related parties that are dedicated to following rigorous food safety practices.  The Alliance will develop, maintain and provide verification for a set of science-based operating standards that represent best current knowledge on how to grow safe sprouts.  The Alliance will also provide a common communication channel to get important and factual messages regarding sprouts out to the foodservice and retail trade and consumers as well as invest in important scientific research, training, and education.

The Sprout Alliance for Safety and Science welcomes all companies in the industry, who are willing to comply with the Alliance Standards Program, to join the program. All companies seeking membership in the Sprout Alliance for Safety and Science are required to undergo a variety of steps to become eligible for membership and then strict Alliance standards must be met on an ongoing basis to maintain membership.

Source: Sprout Alliance for Safety and Science