Food safety expert reveals the vegetable she would NEVER eat because it’s full of bacteria

A food hygiene specialist has warned the public about a vegetable popular in health food cafes due to its alarming risk of food poisoning.

Raw sprouts — small cress-like vegetables added to salads, soups and sandwiches — may be packed with vitamin C and magnesium, but they’re also a hotbed for dangerous bacteria.

So says a US-based food scientist who goes by the name @hydroxide on social media and attracts millions of users to her food safety videos.

In a recent clip on her TikTok channel, the expert described raw Brussels sprouts as “a very, very high-risk food,” saying it’s the one food she will always avoid.

Sprouts are seeds that have germinated and become very young and small plants.

Nuts, seeds, beans and green leafy vegetables can all be eaten like Brussels sprouts.

However, the environment in which they are grown is also the perfect environment for bacteria to thrive.

The food scientist said: ‘Bacteria are like your best friends during spring break: they want to go somewhere warm and moist and they are thirsty.

“So sprouts are actually grown in the warmest, moistest, most humid environment you can imagine, and guess what bacteria love that.”

Unless you blanch or “cook them into submission” there is a risk of food poisoning, she added.

One study reported that the number of microorganisms on a germinating seed can reach 1 billion within three days of germination, according to a report from Clemson University in North Carolina, US.

Additionally, US food safety authorities reported Between 1996 and 2010, there were more than 2,000 cases of illness related to raw sprouts, including 123 hospital admissions and one death.

The social media scientists also warned her 106,000 social media followers that the tiny vegetables could spread bacteria throughout your kitchen.

“You also have to remember that if you’re handling high-risk foods that carry all that moisture, it can also end up on all your kitchen utensils, your countertop, your sink and a lot of other things,” she said.

Raw sprouts can be contaminated with harmful bacteria such as E. coli, Listeria and Salmonella, which can lead to food poisoning.

Experts have said that leftovers should be stored in the top part of the refrigerator, away from the fresh meat. Food safety authorities also warn against leaving leftovers in the refrigerator for more than two days before eating

Diarrhoea, vomiting, nausea, stomach cramps and high fever are all symptoms of food poisoning, according to the NHS.

It can also make you feel generally unwell and tired and experience aches and chills.

Symptoms of food poisoning usually begin within a few days or an hour of eating the food that caused the infection, but it can take up to a week for symptoms to manifest in some cases.

The number of people in Britain suffering from serious food poisoning is increasing, recent figures show.

Between 2013 and 2023, hospital admissions for salmonella – the potentially fatal disease often found in undercooked meat – rose by 79 percent in England.

Meanwhile, e-coli and campylobacter reached record highs in 2023, with hospital admissions for the latter reaching nine in 100,000 people in 2023, up from three in 100,000 in 2000.

It appears the US is witnessing a similar pattern.

According to an official report published in July, the number of Americans dying from food poisoning has increased by 50 percent in four years.

The US has also seen a 20 percent increase in the number of people hospitalized after eating bad food, and the same increase in potentially fatal cases.