Seeds and Salmonella

I have blogged before about seeds and the risks associated with Salmonella contamination (six recalls in 2008 - check out seeds in the list at the right hand side of the main page). The Independent carries a report on this problem stating that:

"Tesco, Waitrose and well-known health food shops have withdrawn tens of thousands of packets of edible seeds in one of the biggest product recalls for a decade after a survey found "unacceptable" levels of salmonella and E. coli.

One in 50 packs of ready-to-eat seeds such as sesame and sunflower was found to be contaminated with dangerous levels of the food-borne diseases, which can cause serious illness in fit people and death in the vulnerable".

The article details how 317 local authorities collected 3,735 packets of ready-to-eat seeds from 3,390 supermarkets, health food shops, convenience stores and market stalls between October 2007 and March 2008. They were analysed in 32 food laboratories.Of these samples, 23 (0.6%) were contaminated with salmonella. E. coli was detected at unsatisfactory levels in 55 samples (1.5%). Melon seeds had the highest proportion of salmonella (8.5%) but the bug was also found in sesame, linseed, sunflower, alfalfa and mixed seeds. E. coli was found in melon, pumpkin, sesame, hemp, poppy, linseed, sunflower and mixed seeds. Follow the link to read the article in full.