Berlin Seeds of Millersburg, OH, is recalling 950 pounds of alfalfa sprouting seed because of potential contamination with Shiga toxin-producing E. coli and/or Salmonella. One illness has been reported directly to the company in connection with the seed.

The recall, announced in a notice posted by the Food and Drug Administration, follows a notification from Berlin Seeds' seed supplier. The supplier told the company that traceback identified the seed as the same seed used by a sprout grower whose finished sprouts were part of an FDA investigation into a multi-state foodborne illness outbreak.

The outbreak under investigation involves multiple strains of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli — serotypes O26:H11, O103:H25 and O168:H8 — plus Salmonella Agona infections. The supplier also reported that a spent irrigation water sample from one of its alfalfa seed lots tested positive for E. coli. The FDA notice does not name the seed supplier.

What product is covered, and where did it go?

The recalled Alfalfa Sprouting Seed sold under the Berlin Seeds label in five formats:

• 1/4 lb., 1/2 lb., 1 lb. and 5 lb. resealable bags
• 50 lb. non-resealable poly woven bags

The 5 lb. and 50 lb. packages carry lot code SAL2-24JB, printed on the bottom right-hand corner of the label. The 1/4 lb., 1/2 lb. and 1 lb. packages carry no lot code at all — a detail that complicates inventory checks for retailers, since smaller bags cannot be matched to the affected lot by code alone and must be treated as suspect on the basis of purchase date and source.

Distribution ran from Feb. 13 to Aug. 23 through two channels: the Berlin Seeds retail store in Millersburg and the company's website. Customers in 42 states received the product, spanning AK, AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, FL, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, MT, NC, ND, NE, NH, NM, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, VT, WA, WI, WV and WY.

No other Berlin Seeds sprouting seeds, including other alfalfa sprouting seed, fall under the recall.

What does this change for retailers and home sprouters?

The recall reaches further than the point of sale. Sprouting seed is an input, not a finished product, and the FDA guidance attached to this notice treats everything downstream of the bag as potentially contaminated.

Consumers who bought the affected seed should stop using it immediately. The notice instructs them not to sprout it, plant it or give it away, and to throw away any sprouts already grown from it. Disposal should go through the trash in a sealed bag, and any jars, trays, sprouters or surfaces the seed or sprouts touched need careful cleaning and sanitizing. Anyone who ate the recalled product and feels ill should contact a health care provider.

Retailers and distributors follow a parallel track: stop selling and distributing the seed in inventory immediately, dispose of it according to local protocols, and clean and sanitize any surfaces or containers the product may have touched.

For sprout growers and produce operators, the case is another marker of how seed-lot contamination propagates through the supply chain — from an upstream supplier, through a distributor, into 42 states and, in this instance, into an active federal outbreak investigation. Whether FDA names the supplier as the investigation proceeds will determine how much further the traceback reaches.