Sprout Safety: Feel Good About Sprouts

Your customers are asking for broccoli sprouts, the crunchy little cancer fighters discovered at Johns Hopkins but you've heard about the food safety issues with sprouts.

Facts:

• Consumers want sprouts because they are tasty and have compelling health benefits
• The FDA has issued a guidance document that outlines the process of producing safe sprouts. Brassica growers must follow these guidelines
• Not all non-Brassica growers follow these guidelines

Fresh Alternatives/Brassica Safety Program:

• Fresh Alternatives/Brassica pioneered a sprout safety program and only our growers meet all these strict standards:
• Adherence to written Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP)
• Adherence to written sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (SOP)
• Adherence to a certified HACCP program.
• Strict sanitation of seeds
• Environmental microbiology monitoring
• Hold and Release testing for Salmonella and E. coli 0157:H7
• Third party inspections by AIB
• Testing to guarantee levels of the antioxidant, sulforaphane GS

The Brassica Sprout Safety Program: A Commitment to Food Safety and Quality

Food safety is a fundamental principle of the mission of Brassica Protection Products (BPP). BPP's program provides the processes and systems designed to ensure the safe, wholesome, and uniform production of BroccoSprouts^® throughout the network of sprouting facilities selected by BPP. Careful adherence to standards and procedures is required of all facilities producing BroccoSprouts.

• The Brassica Pathogen Reduction and HACCP Program is based on a series of widely accepted systems that have been developed over the years to ensure that food production facilities, processes and ingredients are safe and wholesome. The standards and requirements include Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) programs in addition to general facility management tools. These programs have been selected to provide a comprehensive approach to food safety among facilities producing BroccoSprouts.

• The requirement for Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in Brassica's Pathogen Reduction and HACCP program is one element of the strategy to modernize the sprouting industry and to reduce the risk of pathogens on sprout products. Brassica growers must have written sanitation SOPs and HACCP programs to show how they meet these requirements on a daily basis.

• Brassica licenses only a limited number of growers across the country that are capable and committed to stringent food safety standards. Third party auditors, such as the American Institute of Bakers (AIB), inspect BPP growers on an announced and unannounced basis to ensure compliance.

• Brassica has taken a proactive approach to working with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to develop the procedures for safe sprouting and are continuously searching for improvements. In fact, FDA adopted most of the Brassica program for use in the Guidance to Industry that prescribes the standards and protocols for growing sprouts.

• Independent consultants, such as Douglas Archer, Ph.D., former Assistant Surgeon General and Chief Microbiologist at FDA, LeeAnn Applewhite who was instrumental in initiating HACCP and SOP standards in the seafood industry, and faculty members of the School of Public Health at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, review and refine BPP's programs on a continuing basis to ensure that Brassica maintains state-of-the-art standards above those set by the industry and FDA.

Four Keys to Producing Safe Sprouts

• The Brassica Facility Compliance and Pathogen Reduction and HACCP Program: Brassica is the leader in the sprouting industry for food safety, and these programs are the most stringent in the industry which means that only a small handful of growers are capable of meeting the requirements for membership in the Brassica program.

• Seed Supply: All Brassica sprout facilities must purchase their seed from a certified seed supplier. Brassica requires a superior seed quality to maintain its food safety standards, and only Caudill Seed Company has met the rigid standards for seed production and storage. Caudill Seed has 250,000 sq. ft. of American Institute of Bakers (AIB) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) compliant food grade storage and cold storage for more than one million pounds of seed.

• Seed Sanitation: Brassica requires all seed to be soaked and sterilized with 20,000 PPM calcium hypochlorite prior to sprouting following FDA suggested protocols. The seeds are then extensively rinsed to remove all of the remaining residue. This sanitation step is crucial for food safety. Do not buy sprouts from any sprouter who does not sterilize the seeds following this protocol.

• Hold and Release Testing: Brassica recognizes that there have been reported pathogens associated with sprouts. To ensure that BPP's customers receive a safe product, all sprouts are tested for Salmonella and E. coli BEFORE they are sent to the marketplace. There is no better way to guarantee a safe product than to test each and every batch before it leaves BPP's facilities. All sprouts must pass these safety tests before they are shipped.

The benefits in stocking BroccoSprouts^®:

• Safety concerns are no longer an issue
• Only BroccoSprouts^® Broccoli Sprouts have guaranteed levels of sulforaphane GS

Latest Science News: The study published in this paper quantifies the effectiveness of our sprout safety program. The recent increased interest in consuming green vegetable sprouts has been tempered by the fact that fresh sprouts can in some cases be vehicles for food-borne illnesses. They must be grown according to proper conditions of sanitation and handled as a food product rather than as an agricultural commodity. When sprouts are grown in accordance with the criteria proposed from within the sprout industry, developed by regulatory agencies, and adhered to by many sprouters, green sprouts can be produced with very low risk. Contamination may occur when these guidelines are not followed.

Remember, BroccoSprouts^® are the sprouts you can trust.

A list of Brassica Protection Products approved growers may be found here.