What's New
Prof Makes Seed Decontamination Breakthrough
July 4, 2006
A University of Guelph food scientist is part of a team that has made a breakthrough in finding a safe, effective way to decontaminate seeds used to produce bean sprouts, alfalfa sprouts and other types of sprouts — culprits in several major food-borne illness outbreaks around the world.
Prof. Keith Warriner and his four colleagues have developed a sanitizer made of the same chemical used in toothpaste and contact lens solutions that is harmless to the sprouting seed but lethal to pathogens such as Salmonella and E. coli O157:H7. Their research is published in the Journal of Food Protection.
"We developed a sanitizer that you just add to the steep water when the seeds start to germinate," said Warriner. "No one has ever done this before because if you add most sanitizers to the steep water, not only would the pathogens be killed, but also the developing sprouts. The secret of our development is that it's phytocompatible — it doesn't affect plant tissue; it affects only pathogens."
A $4-million industry in Ontario and a $260-million industry in North America, sprouts are popular because they're a rich source of vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals that reduce the risk of cancer and help lower cholesterol levels. Yet even after 600 people in Ontario contracted Salmonella from bean sprouts in November 2005 and 6,000 people in Japan fell ill and 13 people died after contracting E. coli 0157 from radish sprouts in 1995, there are still no safety measures in place to ensure pathogen-free sprouts.
