US retailer Kroger will stop selling fresh sprouts today (22 October) over concerns that the vegetable represents a food safety risk.
According to Payton Pruett, Kroger’s vice president of food safety, the decision was based on the findings of a “thorough, science-based review” and an “abundance of caution”.
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“Testing and sanitizing by the growers and safe food handling by the consumer are the critical steps to protect against food-borne illness. Sprouts present a unique challenge because pathogens may reside inside of the seeds where they cannot be reached by the currently available processing interventions,” Pruett explained.
The company said that deliveries of sprouts to its distribution centres will end and it will stop buying other foods that are produced on the same equipment as sprouts. The policy will be revised when new technologies and practices show farmers can “consistently” produce sprout seeds that do not “internalise pathogens”, the company said.
