4 people hospitalized as dual outbreak of E. Coli and Salmonella linked to sprouts spreads to 15 states: See map

Your parents always told you to eat your vegetables if you want to stay strong and healthy, but this summer, you couldn’t be blamed for avoiding some of them. First, it was the lettuce-linked Cyclosporiasis outbreak that turned people away from the nutritious food group. Now, it’s an outbreak linked to alfalfa sprouts that, if consumed, may give you not one but two pathogenic infections: E. coli and Salmonella. Here’s what you need to know. What’s happened? Last weekend, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began warning the public about an ongoing outbreak investigation linked to alfalfa sprouts. The sprouts are believed to be the source of a multistate outbreak of both E. coli and Salmonella infections, which have sickened dozens of individuals and required four to be hospitalized. On August 22, the FDA published a recall notice for multiple alfalfa sprout products believed to be linked to the dual outbreak. Those products are made by Everything Sprouts, LLC of Minneapolis. The company says the sprout products have “the potential to be contaminated with Shiga toxin producing Escherichia coli (STEC) or Salmonella bacteria…