Federal food safety officials have documented 52 outbreaks of foodborne illness linked to sprouts in the United States between 1996 and 2020, together causing more than 2,700 reported illnesses. That count appears in the Food and Drug Administration's own guidance to the sprout seed industry. This week, it received a new entry: a Minneapolis grower recalled alfalfa sprouts sold under the Calco and Everything Sprouts brands after 55 people across 15 states fell ill.
The recurrence is the story. Sprouts represent a tiny share of the American produce supply and an outsized share of its outbreak record. Federal regulators have known why since the late 1990s, have written rules specifically for sprout growers, and are still investigating the same product with the same two pathogens three decades later.
