While the FDA is attacking yet another food and seemingly overlooking the “factory farming issue” it is good to know that sprouts are exceptionally easy to grow at home.
All you need are some quart size canning jars with sprouting lids, and a dish drainer.
There are other inexpensive methods of sprouting and you can find them at a health store or coop near you, or on-line.
Home sprouting prevents you from the effects of these commercial food alerts.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told people on Sunday not to eat raw alfalfa sprouts, saying they may be contaminated with salmonella.
The contamination appears to be in seeds so washing the sprouts may not help, the FDA said in a statement.
“Other types of sprouts have not been implicated at this time,” the agency said.
“FDA will work with the alfalfa sprout industry to help identify which seeds and alfalfa sprouts are not connected with this contamination, so that this advisory can be changed as quickly as possible.”
The FDA said 31 Salmonella Saintpaul infections have been seen in Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah, and West Virginia.
“Some reported eating raw sprouts at restaurants; others reported purchasing the raw sprouts at the retail level,” the FDA said.
“This outbreak appears to be an extension of an earlier outbreak in 2009. In February and March, an outbreak of Salmonella Saintpaul infections occurred in Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa, Kansas, and Minnesota,” the FDA added.
The FDA has been struggling with several high-profile outbreaks of food poisoning, including salmonella linked to peanut products. Congress is discussing the possibility of setting up a new food safety agency with more resources than the FDA has.
(Reporting by Maggie Fox)
I sometimes use a kelp liquid in my sprouting rinse water which even further increases the health benefits.
Sprouts have many valuable attributes in relation to human health. Back in the 1920’s, an American Professor named Edmond Szekely put forward the concept and way of life of Bio-genic Nutrition. He classified sprouted seeds and baby greens as the most beneficial foods and recommended that they make up 25% of our daily food intake.
Szekely called them life-generating Bio-genic foods which he claimed offer the strongest support for cell regeneration.
One of my favorite meals from Dr. Szekely is a full dish of alfalfa sprouts (1- 4 oz pkg) covered with one grated apple, the juice of one freshly squeezed orange, a bit of avocado and a tad of peanut butter. Surprisingly, this will provide you with a meal that keeps you going for hours.
Raw sprouted foods contain oxygen and regular consumption of raw bio-genic foods with their abundant oxygen is important for health, and especially in cancerous conditions.
Double Nobel Prize winner Dr Otto Warburg found growth of cancer cells were initiated by a lack of oxygen and these cells, along with viruses and bacteria, and could not live in an oxygen rich environment.
Sprouts are also a good source of essential fatty acids which play a major role in the immune system defenses, cell wall integrity and provide one of the highest food sources of fiber.
When these superfoods are grown to the chlorophyll rich two leaf stage, it has been shown they have been effective in overcoming protein-deficiency anemia. Some have found that these superfoods may relieve hot flashes and support hormonal function.
Vitamins from B complex and the C complex in seeds can be increased by the sprouting biochemistry over several days from 100% to 2000%. Biochemistry modifies the array of minerals in sprouts so that they are in a chelated form which is more easily assimilated in the body. They also contain denatured protein that provides essential amino acid building blocks and aid digestion so it operates in half the time of non-sprouted and cooked food.
I’m in the process of updating my booklet about cleaning food, which should be ready to purchase on-line in about a month. It provides you with a number of options to remove waxes, herbicides, pesticides and other contaminants from food. I’ll be adding a recipe or two to make you own salmonella and E.coli killing counter spray as well.