EAK Distribution LLC of Casper, Wyoming, has recalled 3,600 packets of Heirloom Homegrown Green Sprouting Calabrese Broccoli Sprouts Seed after the seed was tied to possible Salmonella contamination. Each packet holds 8 ounces, every packet came from a single production lot, and all of it was sold to home growers on Amazon to buyers across the country. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration listed the recall in its enforcement report dated Oct. 28, 2026, and placed it in the most serious of its three recall tiers.
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Nobody has been reported ill. Seed of this kind is soaked and sprouted on a countertop, and that warm, damp step is what turns a contaminated seed lot into a kitchen problem.
Lot AUG172026, the Amazon listing and the promises on the label
The FDA enforcement report entry carries recall number H-0174-2027 under event 100040. It describes an 8-ounce pouch with Amazon listing number B09P49WHHP and UPC 850056627443, with the lot code AUG172026 embossed on the top seal. The label advertises up to 24 servings, germination rates above 90 percent and a shelf life of more than two years. The recall is voluntary and firm-initiated, began Oct. 1, was classified by the FDA on Oct. 22, and was still listed as ongoing when the report was published.
The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development circulated the company’s notice on Oct. 6, and that notice supplies the chain of events. EAK’s seed supplier warned on Sept. 16 of a possible problem with bulk seed lot W4105 and recalled that lot. EAK stopped all sales on Sept. 17. On Sept. 28 the supplier relayed that the FDA had detected Salmonella in a broccoli seed sample, and that the seed was linked to a sprout grower whose product was part of an FDA investigation into a multistate foodborne illness outbreak. Buyers on Amazon could have ordered the seed from Aug. 20 through Sept. 18, and EAK says it has stopped all production and distribution.
Two identifiers circulate in the paperwork, and they are easy to confuse. W4105 is the seed lot at EAK’s supplier, while AUG172026 is the production lot code embossed on the finished pouch. A buyer checking a pantry should look for the second one on the top seal, since the first appears only in the company notice. The pouch is cream-colored, and the FDA entry gives the firm’s address as 5830 E. 2nd St., PMB 91446, Casper, WY 82609.
The top recall tier and a four-week gap between recall and report
The FDA’s own recall definitions reserve the top tier for situations in which there is a reasonable probability that using or being exposed to a violative product will cause serious adverse health consequences or death. A classification at that level reflects the agency’s judgment of the hazard from a pathogen in the product. It does not wait for a confirmed case, and the company reports none linked to its seed.
The calendar matters for anyone who bought early. EAK began the recall on Oct. 1 and announced it a day later, the FDA classified it on Oct. 22, and the enforcement report entry followed on Oct. 28. Seed sold in late August had weeks to be planted, and sprouts grown in September could already have been eaten. Packets with a stated shelf life above two years can also sit in a cupboard long after a sale window closes, so a recall dated in October can still matter to a household that bought in the summer.
Averaged over the 30-day sales window, 3,600 packets works out to about 120 packets a day. That is a rough figure that assumes every packet was sold, because the FDA entry gives only the quantity recalled.
Salmonella symptoms and the people sprouts hit hardest
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes the illness as watery diarrhea that may contain blood or mucus, with stomach cramps that can be severe, and sometimes headache, nausea or vomiting. Symptoms usually start 6 hours to 6 days after infection and typically clear in 4 to 7 days. CDC advises calling a doctor for diarrhea or vomiting that lasts more than 2 days, blood in stool or urine, a fever above 102 degrees Fahrenheit, or signs of dehydration.
CDC’s overview of the infection lists children under 5, adults 65 and older, people with weakened immune systems, and adults 50 and older with conditions such as heart disease as most likely to fall seriously ill. Archived CDC advice from a 2014 bean sprout outbreak, a different product, tells children, older adults, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems to avoid raw sprouts of any kind, and says thorough cooking kills the bacteria.
The company’s instruction to owners of the seed is short: dispose of it, ask Amazon for a full refund, and direct questions to EAK Distribution at 541-306-4278 on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific time.
One figure the record leaves open is how much of the 3,600-packet total is still out there. The FDA entry counts the quantity recalled but does not split sold from recovered, and the company’s notice reported no illnesses to date as of its Oct. 2 announcement. Neither document says whether the sprout grower named by the supplier in its outbreak investigation ever received seed from this lot.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
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