
DATE: Wednesday, August 6, 1997             TAG: 9708060445

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MARIE JOYCE, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:  132 lines

E. COLI OUTBREAK HAS NORFOLK CONNECTION HEALTH OFFICIALS SAY LOCAL SPROUT GROWER COULDN'T HAVE KNOWN SEEDS WERE FAULTY.

The statewide outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 has been linked to a batch of alfalfa sprout seeds shipped to a Norfolk distributor. But health officials say the local company is ``absolutely not'' to blame.

Seeds contaminated with the deadly bacteria apparently were shipped to Krisp-Pak, a produce distributor located off Colley Avenue in Norfolk. Seeds from the same lot were shipped to Michigan, which also suffered an outbreak of the disease linked to sprouts.

Health officials say anyone who has purchased alfalfa sprouts before today with the Krisp-Pak label should throw out the package or return it to the market. Krisp-Pak's president guarantees a refund.

Starting today, all Krisp-Pak sprouts will be from seeds supplied by a different distributor, said company president Paul Battaglia.

The contamination is not related to any other Krisp-Pak products, health officials emphasized.

``I hate to see him lose all this business. Anything we can do to reassure folks,'' said Suzanne Jenkins, assistant state epidemiologist.

She said Krisp-Pak is ``absolutely not'' at fault. ``There's no way there could have been any negligence on their part because there's no way they could have known.''

And, while health officials continue to monitor E. coli O157:H7 cases, they think this outbreak may be over.

Laboratory tests have yet to find any contamination on the suspected lot of seeds. But that's not surprising, said Jenkins: There never has been an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak linked to alfalfa sprouts, and scientists have no reliable way to identify the bacteria on either the sprouts or the seeds.

Krisp-Pak buys sprout seeds from a distributor, then the Norfolk company sprouts them here. They distribute to supermarkets and other clients in Hampton Roads and elsewhere in Virginia.

Battaglia said the lot came from a distributor in the Midwest. Jenkins would not confirm the identity of the distributor. She said two federal agencies, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration, will track down the distributor.

Now, Krisp-Pak gets its seeds from an Australian company, Battaglia said.

E. coli O157:H7 is one strain of hundreds of the bacterium Escherichia coli. Most strains are harmless, but O157:H7 can cause serious illness.

It has been most often associated with eating undercooked, contaminated ground beef. That was the culprit in the infamous Jack in the Box cases in the Northwest in 1994, in which several children died. Scientists think that in cases involving produce, the bacteria are spread in fertilizer.

Health officials routinely get reports of E. coli O157:H7 infection. But when the numbers spiked in June, they suspected that some cases came from a common source.

Out of 47 E. coli O157:H7 cases reported for June and July, at least 20 are likely related to contaminated sprouts.

No one has died, although more than a dozen people have been hospitalized. At least 11 of those hospitalized had the strain of E. coli linked to the sprouts.

Health officials may never know where the apparently unrelated cases came from, but they continue to investigate.

Battaglia moved quickly as soon as he learned there might be a link between his sprouts and the outbreak.

His company immediately pulled all alfalfa sprouts from the market, at a cost of about $10,000, Battaglia said.

``But I never - gosh, if I could keep one kid from being sick, $10,000 is nothing,'' he said.

He said federal officials came to his facility last Friday, swabbing equipment, floors and drains and taking samples from the 40 bags of seeds that remained from that lot.

Jenkins said federal scientists will use those seeds to learn more about the association between E. coli bacteria and sprouts.

She said seeds wouldn't seem a likely spot for E. coli since they're so dry. However, it's possible that there was a very small amount of contamination and that the bacteria flourished when water was added to make the seeds sprout, she said.

But Battaglia objects to the health department's conclusion, since tests can't find the bacteria.

``There is no definitive link between this outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 and sprouts,'' he said. ``My livelihood's at stake, and there is no definitive information.''

Jenkins, he said, has ``implicated me and the sprouts business.''

He noted that several people who got sick never reported eating alfalfa sprouts.

But that discrepancy is typical in any investigation of food poisoning, said Jenkins. People often don't remember, especially with a food item that is mixed with a salad or served as part of a sandwich.

``With sprouts, you're even less likely to have that because people don't know they're eating them. Some people don't even know what alfalfa sprouts are,'' said Jenkins.

``If we came and asked you what you had to eat three weeks ago, would you remember?''

To discover the source of the outbreak, health investigators noted what victims remembered eating before they got sick. That was compared to the food eaten by a control group of people who were not sick. The control group was composed of people living near the victims who were the same sex and about the same age.

A majority of those who got sick had eaten alfalfa sprouts, while few people who had not gotten sick had eaten them, Jenkins said.

The sprouts were traced back to Krisp-Pak.

Despite his disagreements with health officials, Battaglia said he will continue to work closely with them. The business, he said, has been in his family almost a hundred years.

``The Battaglias and Krisp-Pak have a very good name in Tidewater, and we want to keep it, and I want my son to have it.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]

BETH BERGMAN/The Virginian-Pilot

Puficaciun Quinpina, a Krisp-Pak employee, packs alfalfa sprouts at

the Norfolk plant. The tainted sprouts apparently grew from

contaminated seeds provided by a Midwestern supplier. Krisp-Pak now

has a new seed source.

ABOUT E. COLI

The primary symptom of E. coli O157:H7 is bloody diarrhea,

sometimes accompanied by fever, severe cramps and nausea.

To reduce your risk:

Cook all meat, especially ground beef, until it is gray or brown

throughout rather than pink, the juice runs clear and the

inside is hot. Meat contaminated with E. coli can look and