FDA tests on sprouts negative

The Food and Drug Administration’s testing of the sprouts at Evergreen Fresh Produce in Moyie Springs came back negative for salmonella.

The FDA issued a warning the first week of July to consumers asking them to avoid the Evergreen Produce brand alfalfa sprouts or spicy sprouts because they may be linked to 20 cases of salmonella poisoning.

While the FDA has the power to force a recall, the agency never did asked for a recall while they waited for results.

Owner of Evergreen Produce in Moyie Springs, Nadine Scharf provided the FDA document dated July 21, to the Herald which showed negative results.

Stephanie Yao of the  FDA office of public affairs confirmed the negative results. 

“FDA's test results have come back negative, however a negative test result does not rule out the sprouts as the cause of the outbreak,” Yao said.

“The pathogen may have been in only one portion of the food. A sample taken from a portion that was not contaminated will have a negative test result.”

Yao also reported that the sum of the factors controlling the presence or absence the salmonella clearly implicated the sprouts as the cause of this outbreak, and the cases of reported illness stopped after the public was warned not to eat these sprouts.

This does not sit well with Scharf who said the 23-year-old business has lost thousands of dollars due to the FDA initial reports.

When Scharf asked them if they were going to help her get the business back on track after the tests come back negative the FDA told her they do not do that.

“They have virtually destroyed our business and have no plans on getting us back to where we were before they put out the warning on our product,” Scharf said.

Scharf feels that the statement made by Yao was a way of the FDA covering themselves for letting out the initial press release.

Although the business suffered from the initial FDA warning, business has begun to pick up, according to Scharf.

“It looks like we may be able to recover,” said Scharf. “We have been shut down for five weeks and now things are starting to look better.”

Scharf said the company will be running tests for bacteria four times a week on seed, plant and sprouts. So far their tests are still coming up with no type of bacteria what so ever. 

“Just like  it always has,” Scharf said.

Scharf feels that the entire scare was stemming from an outbreak of salmonella in Europe that was also blamed on sprouts.

“An FDA official told us in a conference call that they never found salmonella in those sprouts either,” said Scharf.

Scharf wants to send the message to the community that the FDA has cleared Evergreen Fresh Produce.

“We will have our alfalfa sprouts ready in about a week, and as always we also have we have our spicy sprouts as well,” Scharf said. “Sprouts are safe to eat and a very healthy food containing many health benefits.”