Guess what the biggest source of foodborne illness in California was between 1996 and 1998. Meat? Eggs? Contaminated water?
Nope. Try alfalfa and clover sprouts. According to a study in the Annals of Internal Medicine, which investigated six multi-county outbreaks of bacterial infections, some 600 confirmed case of disease and two deaths were associated with eating bean sprouts. During the study period, sprouts caused more outbreaks of E. coli 0157:H7 and Salmonella than any other food or source.