Broccoli sprouting seeds sold on Amazon tested positive for Salmonella

Lot code AUG172026, embossed on the top seal of an 8-ounce bag of HOME GROWN Green Sprouting Calabrese Broccoli Seeds, is the mark that separates a recalled bag from a safe one. EAK Distribution LLC of Casper, Wyoming, pulled the heirloom seeds after Salmonella turned up in a sample of the seed, and the product was sold only through Amazon.com.

Seeds are the start of the growing chain, and home sprouts are eaten raw.

The lot, the dates and the lab result

According to the recall notice posted on FDA’s website on Oct. 2, 2026, the affected product is the 8-ounce bag with UPC 850056627443 and lot code AUG172026, which traces to the original supplier’s bulk lot W4105. Amazon.com sold it nationwide between Aug. 20 and Sept. 18, 2026, a window of a little under a month. The notice says an FDA analysis of a broccoli seed sample collected by the supplier detected Salmonella, and the company’s own account fixes the date of lab confirmation at Sept. 28, 2026. The recall came four days later. EAK stated in the notice that no illnesses from its product had been reported to date, and that production and distribution of the affected seeds have stopped. That statement covers this recall alone. It is not a finding about the wider sprout supply, and the notice itself ties the seeds to an investigation that sits outside the company.

A seed lot tied to a sprout grower under FDA investigation

The trigger for the recall was not a customer complaint. The notice says the seeds were identified as being used by a sprout grower whose finished product was part of an FDA investigation into a multistate foodborne illness outbreak. It does not name the grower, the outbreak, or the strain involved, so the link between these particular seeds and any given patient cluster is not established in the public record.

Two sprout investigations were open when the recall was announced, and neither document mentions EAK. FDA’s August 2026 sprouts investigation, last updated Oct. 1, counts 76 illnesses and six hospitalizations across 16 states, and centers on alfalfa seed lot SAL2-24JB distributed by a common supplier; Berlin Seeds of Millersburg, Ohio, and Everything Sprouts of Minneapolis are among the named firms. The page does not mention broccoli seeds.

The second is a Salmonella Bovismorbificans outbreak that CDC last updated on Sept. 24, with 32 confirmed cases in six states, three hospitalizations and no deaths. CDC names broccoli sprouts from Evergreen Fresh Sprouts LLC, which recalled 215 cases on Sept. 10. Of 27 people interviewed, 26 had eaten sprouts or microgreens, and 22 named broccoli sprouts. CDC sets that 96 percent sprout exposure against a baseline of 8.7 percent, and whole genome sequencing matched bacteria from patients to the sprouts, which is how investigators confirm a common source rather than coincidence. Whether the EAK seeds belong to either investigation is not something the recall notice says, and this article does not assert it. What the three documents establish together is that seed-borne Salmonella and E. coli were already driving two federal sprout inquiries when the broccoli seed test came back.

Seed-borne Salmonella and the sprouting chain

Reporting from Food Safety News on the Evergreen case supplies the mechanism and the history. Its account says Evergreen’s recall began Sept. 4 after a positive Salmonella result from a broccoli sprout sample collected and analyzed by Montana state officials, and that symptoms typically begin within 12 to 72 hours of eating contaminated food. It also records that the company had two earlier outbreaks, in 2011 and 2014, and that FDA inspections had repeatedly ended in the Voluntary Action Indicated category rather than formal enforcement.

The FDA recall notice describes what infection looks like: fever, diarrhea that may be bloody, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain in otherwise healthy people. In rare cases Salmonella can reach the bloodstream and cause arterial infections, endocarditis and arthritis. Young children, older adults and people with weakened immune systems are the groups the notice flags as most at risk of severe illness.

The seed-supplier problem in the alfalfa case shows how far one bad lot can travel. In coverage of the Minneapolis expansion, FOX 9 reported that FDA was examining a seed supplier serving several growers, including Everything Sprouts and a second grower that had not been identified publicly. A single lot reaching several sprouters, plus home growers through retail listings, multiplies the number of kitchens that can be exposed before anyone matches a lab result to a bag.

For anyone holding the bag now, the identifying details are narrow: the lot code on the top seal, the Amazon purchase dates and the 8-ounce size. Seeds bought outside that window or under another lot are not covered by this notice, which leaves open how many bags sold in those four weeks remain unopened in home pantries.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.

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