Mung bean sprouts linked to Salmonella Newport outbreak
What it found
In a 2011 outbreak in Germany and the Netherlands, people who ate mung bean sprouts were far more likely to get Salmonella Newport.
The outbreak sickened 106 people in Germany and 20 in the Netherlands.
What they found
Studies in people
Sprout consumption
In the study, 14 of 43 Salmonella Newport patients remembered eating sprouts, compared with 1 of 45 Salmonella Enteritidis patients. The authors calculated that sprout consumption was strongly linked to illness.
Animal and lab studies
Bacteria match
The Salmonella Newport bacteria from patients were indistinguishable from the bacteria found in mung bean sprouts. This was true for 32 patient samples in Germany and 18 in the Netherlands.
Other findings
Traceback
The sprouts eaten by patients could be traced back to a sprout producer in the Netherlands. The producer had earlier found Salmonella in its mung bean sprouts.
Cooking and risk
Some restaurants briefly cooked the sprouts, but this did not kill the Salmonella bacteria. At a clinic, the sprouts were served raw.
What the authors conclude
“Since sprouts are frequently contaminated with microorganisms, consumers need to be aware that consumption of raw or insufficiently cooked sprouts may pose a health risk.”
Also in their conclusions
- They conclude that contaminated mung bean sprouts were the source of the outbreak.
- They advise that consumers need to be aware that eating raw or insufficiently cooked sprouts may pose a health risk.
- They recommend that vulnerable people, such as children, pregnant women, the elderly and those with weakened immune systems, should not eat raw or lightly cooked sprouts.
How it was done
The authors investigated because mung bean sprouts had been found contaminated with Salmonella, and they wanted to test if sprouts were the source of the outbreak.
They compared 50 adults with Salmonella Newport to 45 adults with Salmonella Enteritidis, asking what they ate in the three days before illness. They also typed the bacteria from patients and food, and traced where the sprouts came from.
What it can’t tell you
- This study looked at a single outbreak in 2011. It cannot show how often sprouts are contaminated in general.
- The study could not test the sprouts that were actually eaten by many patients, because they were no longer available.
Who paid
- Authors work at
- Robert Koch Institute, Germany
The paper
- Title
- An outbreak of Salmonella Newport associated with mung bean sprouts in Germany and the Netherlands, October to November 2011
- Type
- Study
- Evidence
- Studies in people · animals · lab
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Licence
- CC BY. Words in quotation marks are the authors’; the rest is our summary.
- Cite
- Bayer C, Bernard H, Prager R, et al (2014). An outbreak of Salmonella Newport associated with mung bean sprouts in Germany and the Netherlands, October to November 2011. Euro surveillance. doi:10.2807/1560-7917.es2014.19.1.20665Free full textPubMed 24434173DOI
Summary written 30 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error