Press Release:
Broccoli Sprout Grower Assures Consumers Of Safety Of Brassica Broccoli Sprouts
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, January 16, 2002
Contact: Peter Webb Public Relations, Inc.
6025 S. Quebec Street, Suite 360
Centennial, CO 80111
Contact: Kris Staaf or Heather Halpape (303) 796-8888
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.
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