Alfalfa Sprouts Recalled due to Fears of Salmonella Contamination

The California Department of Health has warned consumers against eating a brand of Alfalfa sprouts because of the risk of possible salmonella contamination.

The Department of Public Heath has recalled the products by Culver City-based Kowalke Organics. These products come with sell-by dates between June 18th and June 30th. According to the Los Angeles Times, the products were sold at Whole Foods Market stores and Southern California Gilson’s. The products include:

• Kowalke Organics Alfalfa Sprouts, 4-ounce, 8-ounce,1-pound and 5-pound packages
• Kowalke Organics Dinner Salad, 6-ounce package
• Kowalke Organics Onion Mix, 4-ounce package

According to Mick’s Produce Inc which operates the company, it’s recalling all its Alfalfa Sprouts products voluntarily. According to him, one package in the lot with a sell by date of June 21 has tested positive for Salmonella. The company owner says that the products were clean when they left company trucks. He believes that the contamination could have occurred down the line in the stores.

According to Health Department Spokesmen, sprout contamination usually originates from seeds, and so, the department has recalled all Alfalfa products that germinate from the affected lots of seed.

So far, there have been no reports of any instances of Salmonellosis from the contaminated sprouts. Fortunately, it seems like the California Department of Public Health has worked swiftly to contain the problem and recall possibly contaminated products before an outbreak.

It’s been a bad year for food safety in California, and around the country. We began the year with an outbreak of Salmonellosis across the country that hospitalized more than 700 people and left several dead. The victims were mostly elderly residents of nursing homes who had consumed peanut butter contaminated by salmonella.

That infection was traced to contaminated peanuts from a food processing plant in Georgia. The peanut butter salmonella food poisoning crisis was quickly followed by another food safety scare, this time involving contaminated pistachios. The FDA warned consumers to avoid eating pistachios and foods containing pistachio nuts. That outbreak resulted in a voluntary recall of more than 2 million pounds of roasted pistachio nuts by California-based Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella.

Last week, Nestle Inc. recalled several batches of its Toll House cookie dough after reports of E. coli poisoning. That outbreak had at least 66 people sick in 29 states, including California. The Toll House contaminated cookie dough poisoning scare has already resulted in one food poisoning lawsuit filed by a San Mateo woman. An 18-year-old woman who was hospitalized for a week with E. coli poisoning after eating the raw cookie dough, has sued Nestle. The Food and Drug Administration has advised consumers not to eat the cookie dough even after cooking, because of the risk of cross contamination of the hands and cooking surfaces.

The new FDA chief has also made it clear that food safety will be a big priority for the agency. California food poisoning lawyers believe it’s about time that food safety was given the priority it desperately needs.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of food poisoning. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

The Reeves Law Group is not acting as legal counsel for any party in the matters discussed in this posting.