FDA recall list grows two days after health officials close a 16-state sprout outbreak

Two more sellers of sprouting seeds have been added to the federal government's recall database, a trade publication reported this week, just two days after health officials formally closed the investigation into a multistate outbreak that the seeds were tied to. The additions suggest the fallout from one contaminated shipment of alfalfa seed is still working its way through the supply chain months after the seed itself was pulled from the market.

Country Creek LLC, which sells seeds under the Country Creek Acres brand, and Francisco Family Foods both appear in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's enforcement report over possible contamination of their sprouting seeds with E. coli and salmonella, according to Food Safety News, which first reported the listings on Nov. 11. Neither company has issued its own public recall announcement, and the FDA has not put out a news release on either action. As of this writing, the public record does not include the companies' locations, the quantity of seed involved, lot numbers or a risk classification, and it is not yet clear whether their seeds are formally tied to the same contaminated lot or reflect a separate concern discovered during the broader investigation's aftermath.

A seed lot that fanned out across the country

The new entries follow a long chain of recalls that began in late August. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says its surveillance system first flagged an unusual cluster of illnesses in July 2026. Investigators eventually linked 77 illnesses across 16 states to alfalfa sprouts contaminated with four different pathogen strains at once: three strains of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli and a strain of Salmonella Agona. Six people were hospitalized; no deaths were reported. Three patients were infected with both E. coli and salmonella simultaneously, a detail the CDC says points to a single contaminated source rather than separate incidents.

That source turned out to be a single lot of alfalfa seed, labeled SAL2-24JB, traced by FDA investigators to International Specialty Supply, doing business as International Sprout Holdings Inc., of Cookeville, Tennessee. The firm's own recall, filed as a Class I action — the FDA's highest risk category — covered nearly 44,000 pounds of seed shipped to 16 states, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico, Tahiti and Venezuela, FDA enforcement records show.

Because sprouting-seed suppliers sell bulk seed to smaller companies that grow and repackage it under their own brand names, the contamination spread outward in a sequence of secondary recalls. Everything Sprouts LLC of Minneapolis recalled Calco- and Everything Sprouts-brand alfalfa sprouts on Aug. 22, then expanded the recall on Aug. 28 to cover its Robust Radish Sprout Mix as well, citing a risk of cross-contamination on shared equipment. Tennessee-based Todd's Seeds LLC, LEASA Industries of Florida, and Berlin Seeds of Millersburg, Ohio, each filed similar Class I recalls in the weeks that followed, all citing the same supplier lot number.

Why raw sprouts keep causing trouble

Sprouts occupy an unusual place in food-safety enforcement. Unlike most produce, the contamination risk often begins inside the seed itself, before it ever reaches a grower's facility. The warm, humid conditions needed to germinate a seed into an edible sprout are also ideal conditions for bacteria to multiply, and rinsing sprouts under running water does little to remove pathogens that have worked their way inside the seed coat. The FDA and CDC have flagged raw sprouts as a recurring outbreak source for decades, and this episode followed the familiar pattern: a single bulk seed lot, resold under numerous retail names, produced a wave of recalls spread across several states and several weeks rather than one clean announcement.

Who is affected, and what comes next

The recalled products were aimed primarily at home sprouting — seeds sold in small resealable bags as well as 50-pound bulk sacks to specialty retailers, natural-food stores and online marketplaces — rather than at pre-packaged sprouts sold in supermarket produce sections. That makes the audience narrower than a typical produce recall, but it also means affected consumers may be less likely to have seen a product recall notice, since several of the implicated sellers operate primarily through their own websites or third-party marketplaces rather than major grocery chains.

The CDC's investigation is now formally closed, with the agency's standard guidance for sprouts remaining in place for anyone holding onto seed purchased earlier this year: children, older adults, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems are advised to avoid raw sprouts altogether, while others are told to cook them thoroughly rather than eat them raw.

"Cooking sprouts until steaming hot can lower your risk," the CDC advises on its outbreak page.

The FDA's enforcement database is updated on a rolling basis as companies file recall paperwork, and additional sellers of the same seed lot — or related lots from the same supplier — could still surface in the weeks ahead, as happened repeatedly through September. Consumers who bought bulk alfalfa or sprouting seeds for home use in 2026 are advised to check any lot codes against the recalled lot number and to contact the seller or the FDA's recall and safety alert page with questions. Neither Country Creek LLC nor Francisco Family Foods could be reached for a public statement as of this writing, and the FDA has not said whether it plans to issue a formal press release on either firm's recall.