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SALMONELLA

FDA warns of alfalfa sprouts

The Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told people Sunday not to eat raw alfalfa sprouts, saying they may be contaminated with salmonella.

The contamination appears to be in seeds, so washing the sprouts may not help, the FDA said in a statement.

“Other types of sprouts have not been implicated at this time,” the agency said.

“FDA will work with the alfalfa sprout industry to help identify which seeds and alfalfa sprouts are not connected with this contamination, so that this advisory can be changed as quickly as possible.”

The FDA said 31 Salmonella Saintpaul infections have been seen in Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah and West Virginia.

“Some reported eating raw sprouts at restaurants; others reported purchasing the raw sprouts at the retail level,” the FDA said.

WHITE HOUSE

Obama plays golf at air base

President Obama took advantage of the summer weather in Washington on Sunday to play a round of golf.

Before he left for the course, Mr. Obama received an update on the swine flu virus, said White House spokesman Reid Cherlin.

Mr. Obama played for about five hours in nearly 90-degree temperatures on the rolling lawns of a course at Andrews Air Force Base in the Maryland suburbs.

He arrived at the course wearing sunglasses, a cream-colored baseball cap, a short-sleeved shirt and khaki shorts, with his BlackBerry clipped to his side. He shook hands with a few other golfers and waved to other onlookers before stepping into a golf cart driven by the course’s general manager, Mike Thomas.

Joining the president were Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk and presidential aide Marvin Nicholson.

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