If there is one branch that focusses wholly on food safety these days, it’s the sprouted seeds sector. “No company, big or small, can ignore it,” says Jelle Kuijper of Evers Specials, refering to last year’s EHEC crisis. “Initially, all sprout vegetables were suspected of being responsible for the EHEC outbreak. Later, suspicions zeroed in on a very specific, exotic product: fenugreek seedlings.”
It was this initial suspicion however, targeting all sprout vegetables, that led to accelerated new policies. “The new regulations have just been EU-approved and are now awaiting authorization by the World Trade Organisation,” says Kuijper. “After final consent the rules may take effect as early as January 2013.”
The sector took the opportunity to get organized on a European level, mostly to ensure input on the coming regulations. This effort resulted in the formation of the ‘European Sprouted Seeds Association’, which will hold its first conference this October. Jelle Kuijpers, himself manager ad interim of the Association, states that total safety in the sector can only be reached when everyone involved, from top to bottom, will participate.
“The plan is to come up with a strategy that gives the seedlings a fixed designation in the earliest possible stage. By holding on to that designation we will minimize the risk of contamination.”
Immediately after the EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) mapped the risks in the sprouted seeds sector, the organisation started working on a follow-up assignment, in which it will do the same for the entire fresh produce industry. “It’s pretty exciting to see where this will lead,” concludes Kuijpers.