HEALTH ALERT: Like sprouts? Experts say cook first to be safe!

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By MARIA CHENG, AP Medical Writer – 1 hour ago.

LONDON (AP) — Salad eaters, beware. Experts say it's little surprise that sprouts are behind the world's deadliest E. coli outbreak.

Sprouts need warm and humid conditions to grow — precisely the same conditions required by bugs like E. coli and salmonella to thrive. And raw sprouts have been blamed before in food poisoning outbreaks, in the U.S. and a large outbreak in Japan in 1996.

German officials said Friday that sprouts caused the deadly outbreak there, although they don't know which kind. The organic farm linked to the outbreak grew a wide variety, including alfalfa, onion and radish.

Sprouts are grown in water from seeds, which are rinsed daily. They can be grown from numerous kinds of vegetables and are often eaten raw in salads and sandwiches.

Officials in Germany say they're not yet sure whether the sprout seeds were infected or whether the sprouts got contaminated by dirty water. Public health agencies have long been concerned about the risks of bacterial contamination of water used to produce sprouts.

Well this fact, I knew throughout my life; my voice has been muted by those who champion eating of sprouts, as it is.

I still hold, not just on account of the present threat from a new strain of E-Coli but to ensure no harmful microbes go into our stomachs, we must cook everything before we eat, except safe and chemically uncontaminated fruit.  

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