So what are microgreens? They are very young plants of various vegetables, such as kale, spinach, beets, lettuce, etc, that are 7 to 14 days after germination. Similar to bean sprouts, although sprouts are harvested 2 days after germination, so microgreens in comparison will have leaves and roots whereas sprouts will not. However like sprouts, micro greens can be a higher risk for organisms like Salmonella. The reason is that the conditions for growth of the micro greens will support organisms such as Salmonella.
FDA Recall Notice
http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm524638.htm
Osage Gardens Inc. Recalls Osage Gardens Organic 2oz Micro Greens Because of Possible Health Risk
For Immediate Release
October 7, 2016
Contact
Consumers ared McDermott 970-876-0668
Announcement
View Product Photos
New Castle, CO - Osage Gardens Inc. is recalling Osage Gardens Organic 2oz Micro Greens, because it has the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Healthy persons infected with Salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. In rare circumstances, infection with Salmonella can result in the organism getting into the bloodstream and producing more severe illnesses such as arterial infections (i.e., infected aneurysms), endocarditis and arthritis.
Osage Gardens Organic 2oz Micro Greens was distributed to Whole Foods stores in Colorado and Kansas. The Osage Gardens Organic 2oz Micro Greens product is packed in a clear plastic clamshell and has a label on the bottom with a UPC Code 709376615008 and affected product are dated with a Julian codes from 266 to 279’.
No illnesses have been reported to date.
The recall was a result of a routine sampling by the FDA which revealed that the finished products contained the bacteria. Osage Gardens Inc. has ceased the production and distribution of the product as FDA and Osage Gardens Inc. continue their investigation as to what caused the problem.
Consumers who have purchased Osage Gardens Organic 2oz Micro Greens are urged to return it to the place of purchase for a full refund. Consumers with questions may contact Osage Gardens Inc. at 970-876-0668 Monday-Friday 8am-4:30pm.
NPR - The Salt
http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2012/08/29/160274163/introducing-microgreens-younger-and-maybe-more-nutritious-vegetables
Introducing Microgreens: Younger, And Maybe More Nutritious, Vegetables
August 30, 2012 2:52 PM ET
Eliza Barclay
We've come to accept the baby-fication of our vegetables – baby spinach, baby lettuce, and baby squash prized for their tenderness and cute size have staked out territory in the produce section of many a grocery store.
Now, growers (and a few inventive chefs) have decided we need vegetables that are even more juvenile than babies — seedlings so small, and so young, they're called microgreens. The advantages of these tiny leaves less than 14 days old are many, their proponents say. They make vibrantly hued garnishes to salads, sandwiches and soups. And whether they're We've come to accept the baby-fication of our vegetables – baby spinach, baby lettuce, and baby squash prized for their tenderness and cute size have staked out territory in the produce section of many a grocery store.
Now, growers (and a few inventive chefs) have decided we need vegetables that are even more juvenile than babies — seedlings so small, and so young, they're called microgreens. The advantages of these tiny leaves less than 14 days old are many, their proponents say. They make vibrantly hued garnishes to salads, sandwiches and soups. And whether they're spinach, pea, beet or purple mustard, microgreens are rumored to pack even more nutrients that their adult versions.
Now it seems there's some scientific muster to back that claim. Gene Lester, a researcher with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and his colleagues at University of Maryland, College Park, have conducted the first scientific analysis of nutrients in microgreens. The results, Lester tells The Salt, "totally knocked me over."
The researchers looked at four groups of vitamins and other phytochemicals – including vitamin C, vitamin E, and beta carotene — in 25 varieties of microgreens. They found that leaves from almost all of the microgreens had four to six times more nutrients than the mature leaves of the same plant. But there was variation among them – red cabbage was highest in vitamin C, for instance, while the green daikon radish microgreens had the most vitamin E.
Kari Sullivan via Flickr
The findings, which appear in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, "give us a new insight into plants, because these are little tiny seeds barely exposed to much light at all," Lester says. "And yet those compounds are there ready to go."
Bhimu Patil, a professor of horticulture and director of the Vegetable and Fruit Improvement Center at Texas A&M University, agrees that microgreens may potentially have higher levels of nutrients than mature vegetables. But he says more studies are needed to compare the two side by side. "This is a very good start, but there can be a lot of variation in nutrients depending on where you grow it, when you harvest, and the soil medium," Patil says.
Growers say there's already a market. Brendan Davison recently started up Good Water Farms to cultivate organic microgreens in East Hampton, N.Y. Davison says he always suspected microgreens were exceptionally nutritious, and has doubled his sales since he started selling to chefs in the Hamptons one year ago.
"I deliver the greens in the tray that they're grown in, so I'm bringing the farm to the kitchen," says Davison. "The chefs can cut what they want with scissors right onto the plate, so they're live and fresh."
Davison currently grows in his greenhouse 11 kinds of microgreens, including daikon radish, arugula, cilantro, and basil.
Davison and Lester say microgreens could easily be confused with sprouts, but they're not the same thing. Sprouts are seeds germinated in water just long enough (usually 48 hours) to grow roots, a stem and pale, underdeveloped leaves. Microgreens, on the other hand, need soil and sunlight and at least 7 days to grow before you can harvest them.
This distinction is important for food safety, since sprouts have recently been implicated in a number foodborne illness outbreaks, like the one in Germany and France where more than 50 people died and thousands were sickened after eating fenugreek sprouts contaminated with E. Coli 0104. As Nancy Shute reported earlier this year, the U.S. government now recommends against eating sprouts.
Patil says microgreens could also harbor menacing bacteria, depending on how carefully they're packaged. "We're going to have to make sure this is safe," he says.
But everyone seems to be in agreement that anything that gets more phytonutrients into people is a good thing, given that most
Americans aren't eating enough fruits and vegetables.
Lester doesn't see microgreens pushing aside hearty, full-grown vegetables, though.
"Microgreens aren't going to replace a big, leafy salad that has lots of fiber and will give you a good sense of satiety," says Lester. "But if you throw a big bunch of microgreens on anything, that's a pretty good shot of vitamins."
Food Microbiology
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S074000201400121X
Volume 44, December 2014, Pages 60–63
Comparison of the growth of Escherichia coli O157: H7 and O104: H4 during sprouting and microgreen production from contaminated radish seeds
Zhenlei Xiao, Xiangwu Nou, Yanguang Luo, Qin Wang
Abstract
Both sprouts and microgreens are popular tender produce items, typically grown and harvested in indoor facilities which allow a higher degree of control compared to open field production. While sprouts, which have frequently been implicated in foodborne illness outbreaks, are the subject of numerous national and international standards for their production and distribution, there is a lack of data pertaining to the microbiological safety of microgreens. In this study, sprouts and microgreens were produced from radish seeds inoculated with Escherichia coli O157: H7 or O104: H4 and E. coli populations on the harvested products compared to assess the potentials of product contamination from contaminated seeds during sprouting and microgreen production. Both E. coli O157:H7 and O104:H4 grew rapidly during sprouting, reaching levels of 5.8–8.1 log cfu/g and 5.2–7.3 log cfu/g, respectively, depending on the initial inoculation levels of the seeds (1.5–4.6 log cfu/g and 0.8–4.3 log cfu/g on radish seeds, respectively). In comparison, E. coli O157:H7 and O104:H4 populations on harvested microgreens ranged from 0.8 to 4.5 log cfu/g and from 0.6 to 4.0 log cfu/g, respectively. Although harvested microgreens carried significantly less (P < 0.001) E. coli than sprouts germinated from seeds inoculated at the same levels, proliferation of E. coli O157:H7 and O104:H4 occurred during both sprouting and microgreen growth.
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