Sprouts?

[Anonymous]

I love fresh alfalfa sprouts on my sandwiches. They're usually inexpensive, too. But, since moving to the DC area (Alexandria), I haven't been able to find any. I've been to all my local grocery stores (Giant, Safeway, Shopper's, Wal-Mart, Costco) and have tried Balducci's in Old Town.

Does anyone know where I can get sprouts around here??

The only place I can think of to try is Harris Teeter or Wegman's. But neither of these are close enough to me to warrant going on a wild goose chase. Anyone?

[Anonymous]

I love them too, but they carry a huge risk of ecoli and salmonella, more so than spinach. so most stores don't have them.

[Anonymous]

Starting today, Kroger, one of the biggest supermarket chains in the country, is no longer selling alfalfa and bean sprouts in any of its stores.

The decision to yank the popular salad ingredient from shelves was announced Friday. Kroger's vice president of food safety told the Wall Street Journal that the decision was motivated by food safety concerns. Sprouts have been tied to numerous large-scale outbreaks of food poisoning in the past few years, he explained, and it is difficult to ensure the safety of any given batch of sprouts.

The move makes Kroger the second major chain to stop selling sprouts in the U.S.; the first was Walmart, which instituted the policy in 2011 soon after a batch of alfafa sprouts sold in its stores sickened 22 people and were subject to an urgent recall.

Sprouts are considered one of the foods most likely to harbor foodborne pathogens like E. coli and salmonella. The growing process required to sprout alfalfa seeds or beans is very conducive to the growth of such bacteria. And the fact that most people eat sprouts raw, thereby preventing them from killing the bacteria with heat, only makes sprouts riskier.

I always avoid them.

[Anonymous]

Hate spouts always taste like chlorine.

[Anonymous]

What about someplace like Whole Foods?

[Anonymous]

taste like dirt

[Anonymous]

Grow them in yourself.

[Anonymous]

Why do you like them?

[Anonymous]

I'm OP, and if you rinse them just like any other vegetable, you'll be fine. Jimmy John's has them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous



I'm OP, and if you rinse them just like any other vegetable, you'll be fine. Jimmy John's has them.

Not really.

[Anonymous]

Grow your own! So so so easy. Just google it and you'll find resources.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm OP, and if you rinse them just like any other vegetable, you'll be fine. Jimmy John's has them.

The E. coli can grow within the sprout. Short of cooking them to a safe temperature - which I think defeats the purpose of eating sprouts - nothing can make infected sprouts safe. I used to love eating them, but they just taste weird to me now.

[Anonymous]

Where does the bacteria come from? It just grows on or in the sprouts? It doesn't come from contamination from animal feces like with spinach?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm OP, and if you rinse them just like any other vegetable, you'll be fine. Jimmy John's has them.

Actually NO. The only thing and I mean ONLY thing that kills ecoli (which is what one needs to be afraid of) is heat.

With that said, I still eat sprouts. Love them. They are a micro green and easy as pie to grow yourself int a window if you are so inclined, which I'm not.

[Anonymous]

Asian markets usually have them.