Sprout Safety Alliance

The Sprout Safety Alliance (SSA), a public-private alliance, develops a core curriculum, training and outreach programs for stakeholders in the sprout production community to enhance the industry's understanding and implementation of the requirements in the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety Rule, and best practices for improving sprout safety.

SSA News

• Sprout Videos

  Food Safety Best Practices for Sprout Production (2024)

  The SSA and FDA have produced videos to demonstrate the four key procedures required by the Produce Safety Rule. These videos are published on the SSA website and are publicly accessible.

  • Cleaning and Sanitizing in a Sprout Production Environment
  • Environmental Sampling in a Sprout Operation
  • Seed treatment
  • Sampling and Testing of Spent Sprout Irrigation Water (Or In-process Sprouts)

• SSA Training Curriculum Second Edition Available for Free Download

  Safer Sprout Production for Produce Safety Rule Compliance This training manual is also available for purchase from the FSPCA Bookstore website.

• SSA Technical Assistance Network (TAN)

  SSA TAN was created for individuals to submit a sprout safety related technical question to the SSA Food Safety Experts.

News on FDA Rules and Guidance

• The FDA has published additional resources to its website to help industry comply with the Food Traceability Rule. These include: A downloadable, electronic sortable spreadsheet template; Minor revisions to the Food Traceability List clarifying the status of previously frozen foods on the list, as well as a new FAQ summarizing the changes; A chart summarizing exemptions relevant to produce farms for both the Produce Safety Rule and the Food Traceability Rule; A supply chain example for sprouts; and New translated material about the Traceability Lot Code and the Traceability Plan.
• On September, 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released two guidance documents that outline recommendations for how sprout operations may comply with the Produce Safety Rule. The first is a guidance (2023 Final Guidance) that updates and finalizes the following sections of the January 2017 Draft Guidance entitled “Compliance with and Recommendations for Implementation of the Standards for the Growing, Harvesting, Packing, and Holding of Produce for Human Consumption for Sprout Operations”: Cleaning and Sanitizing, Agricultural Water in Sprout Operations, Seeds for Sprouting, Environmental Monitoring, and Recordkeeping. The second guidance (2023 Draft Guidance) re-issues certain sections of the January 2017 Draft Guidance and issues one new section for sprout operations as revised draft guidance. The following updated and new sections in the revised draft guidance are now available for comment: Equipment, Tools, and Buildings, Sampling and Testing of Spent Sprout Irrigation Water (or In-Process Sprouts), Personnel Qualifications, Training, and Hygienic Practices.
• On November, 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a final rule on food traceability designed to facilitate faster identification and rapid removal of potentially contaminated food from the market, resulting in fewer foodborne illnesses and/or deaths. The final rule aligns with current industry best practices and covers domestic firms, retail food establishments, restaurants, and farms, as well as foreign firms and farms producing food for U.S. consumption. The Food Traceability Final Rule is a key component of the FDA’s New Era of Smarter Food Safety Blueprint and implements Section 204(d) of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).
• On May, 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a final guidance titled “Reducing Microbial Food Safety Hazards in the Production of Seed for Sprouting: Guidance for Industry.” This guidance outlines FDA’s serious concerns over foodborne illness outbreaks associated with the consumption of raw and lightly-cooked sprouts and provides firms with recommended steps to prevent adulteration throughout the production chain of seed for sprouting.
• During the COVID-19 pandemic, to assist the food industry as it navigates changes to operations related to COVID-19, the FDA has teamed up with OSHA to develop the “Employee Health and Food Safety Checklist for Human and Animal Food Operations During the COVID-19 Pandemic.”
• On April 10, 2020, the FDA issued information and best practices for retail food stores, restaurants, and pick-up/delivery services during the pandemic to protect workers and customers.
• The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published in the Federal Register a proposed rule to establish a laboratory accreditation program for food testing as required by the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act. This proposed rule outlines the procedures and standards that accreditation bodies and laboratories would need to follow to participate in the program, as well as procedures for how FDA would manage and oversee the program. The proposed rule would help ensure that certain food testing of importance to public health produces reliable and valid test results, and, in turn, improve FDA’s capability to protect U.S. consumers from unsafe food. (Link: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/11/04/2019-23870/laboratory-accreditation-for-analyses-of-foods)
• The FDA issued draft guidance to provide recommendations to those in the sprout seed industry to help reduce food safety hazards in the production of seed used for sprouting. This guidance, titled "Reducing Microbial Food Safety Hazards in the Production of Seed for Sprouting," is intended to provide food safety recommendations for those that grow, condition, pack, hold or distribute seed for sprouting.
• EPA has granted conditional approval for the use of Clorox (Active Ingredient: Sodium Hypochlorite, 6%) to treat alfalfa seed for E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella (EPA Registration 5813-111 and EPA Registration 5813-114).
• FDA has determined that specific methods are “scientifically valid” and “at least equivalent to the method of analysis in § 112.151(a) in accuracy, precision, and sensitivity” in detecting or quantifying generic Escherichia coli in agricultural water, Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella in spent sprout irrigation water or sprout samples.
• Having questions on the FDA Produce Safety Rule? Please visit the FDA FSMA Technical Assistance Network (TAN) webpage and submit your inquiry through this link: https://cfsan.secure.force.com/Inquirypage/

SSA Training Accomplishments

For more details about SSA Accomplishments, please click here.

Submit your questions to SSA Technical Assistance Network.