Link between bean sprout and Salmonella Bareilly confirmed

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Microbiologists at the Health Protection Agency’s Centre for Infections (CFI) in Colindale have confirmed the link between contaminated bean sprouts and 141 cases of Salmonella Bareilly in the UK.

Specialists in the CFI’s Salmonella Reference Unit report that the strain of Salmonella Bareilly isolated from a bean sprout sample is indistinguishable from the strain of S. Bareilly isolated from human samples.

Bean sprouts had already featured strongly in a case control study in which people who had suffered from S. Bareilly infection and controls (people who did not become ill) were questioned about what they had eaten prior to the onset of illness.

However, both the HPA and the Food Standards Agency (FSA) stress that bean sprouts are safe to eat provided that they are washed and cooked until piping hot before consumption or are clearly labelled as ready-to-eat.

Professor Qutub Syed, a director with the HPA’s Local and Regional Services Division, is chairing an outbreak control team comprising representatives from the Agency, the FSA, Health Protection Scotland and Environmental Health Officers from a number of local authorities.

Professor Syed said: “As time went on our investigations produced increasingly strong evidence of an association with bean sprouts in this outbreak. Now we have results from microbiological sampling to corroborate the findings of the epidemiological studies. The link with bean sprouts has been established.

“However, no one should be put off eating bean sprouts, provided they are properly cooked. The risk is in eating raw or under-cooked bean sprouts. The best advice is to follow the guidance on the packaging, but if there is any doubt or ambiguity about the instructions, cook the sprouts until they are piping hot.”

Professor Syed added that people who prepare meals in catering establishments and in the home should keep raw bean sprouts separate from other salad products, including ready-to-eat bean sprouts, to avoid the risk of cross-contamination. The FSA advice on the safe preparation of bean sprouts may be accessed on http://www.food.gov.uk/

Information on salmonella is available on the HPA website www.hpa.org.uk