Alfalfa seeds

The seeds of alfalfa, Medicago sativa, germinated to produce the crisp sprouts eaten raw in sandwiches and salads. Because sprouting conditions — warm, moist, nutrient-rich — amplify any pathogens present, the seeds must be of high microbiological quality or treated to reduce Salmonella and E. coli; spent irrigation water is tested as a process control. Repeated sprout-linked outbreaks traced to contaminated seed lots made alfalfa seeds a textbook case in produce safety: the hazard rides in on the seed, and only seed-level controls prevent it.