Contamination … one person is dead and hundreds sick after a salmonella outbreak in cucumbers. Picture: AP Source: AP
AN elderly woman is dead and more than 300 people are ill after eating cucumbers contaminated with salmonella, forcing a massive recall in the US.
The company behind the outbreak, Andrew & Williamson Fresh Produce of San Diego, has voluntarily recalled its “Limited Edition” brand garden cucumbers, thought to have been grown in Mexico.
“The safety and health of the consumers who buy our products have always been the highest priority for us,” the company told UK’s Metro.
“I bring our produce home to my family, that’s how much I believe in the produce we buy, ship and sell.
Poisoned … It’s not the first time cucumbers have been blamed for a sickness outbreak. Picture: Supplied Source: Supplied
“We’ve invested millions to make sure our food safety systems are effective and up to date.”
Health officials believe its these vegetables that are the likely cause of the death of a 99-year-old woman and the cause of hundreds of illnesses during July and August.
The US Food Poison Journal describes the symptoms as: “Salmonellosis is characterised by an acute onset of headache, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, nausea, and sometimes vomiting. Dehydration, especially among infants, may be severe.
Residents in 27 states across America have so far been infected.
In 2011, 53 people died and 3,950 were affected by a E. coli outbreak initially though to have come from Spanish cucumbers, but was later tracked back to seeds imported from the Middle East.
Originally published as Hundreds sick from eating cucumbers