The Food and Drug Administration issued an import alert for cucumbers imported from areas of Mexico this week after one farm’s produce was linked to an outbreak of salmonella that has infected at least 418 people in 31 states and led to two deaths.
The FDA issued the import alert in the wake of last week’s identification of salmonella Poona in produce imported by San Diego-based Andrew & Williamson Fresh Produce.
As of Sept. 14, the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control said the salmonella Poona outbreak had sickened 418 people in 31 states and killed two in California and Texas. That was an increase of 77 people from the prior week’s total and expanded it to one more state.
The CDC said strains of this salmonella Poona have been reported in Alaska (10 cases), Arizona (72), Arkansas (6), California (89), Colorado (16), Hawaii (1), Idaho (14), Illinois (6), Indiana (2), Kansas (1), Kentucky (1), Louisiana (4), Minnesota (20), Missouri (8), Montana (13), Nebraska (2), Nevada (9), New Mexico (22), New York (4), North Dakota (2), Ohio (2), Oklahoma (10), Oregon (8), Pennsylvania (2), South Carolina (8), Texas (20), Utah (37), Virginia (1), Washington (15), Wisconsin (9), and Wyoming (4).
Illnesses started on dates ranging from July 3 to Sept. 3. The CDC added that among the 290 people with available information, 91 people, or 31 percent, have been hospitalized, and two deaths have been reported, one each in California and Texas. About 52 percent of the cases in this outbreak have been in children younger than 18, the CDC noted.
Andrews & Williamson recalled all of its “Limited Edition” labeled cucumbers earlier this month, and at least one of its distributor partners did so as well.
On Monday, Custom Produce Sales of Parlier, Calif., voluntarily recalled all A&W cucumbers sold under the Fat Boy label and unlabeled cucumbers sold in Nevada. The FDA said the Fat Boy cucumbers were Fat Boy produced in Baja California and distributed in the states of California, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Texas.
The FDA issued an import alert for cucumbers from Rancho Don Juanito de R.L. de C.V. in Baja, Mexico. The import alert was based on the identification of salmonella in import sampling of the farm’s cucumbers, the agency said.
As of Thursday, more than half a dozen lawsuits had been filed on behalf of people infected with this salmonella Poona outbreak. The Seattle-based law firm of Marler Clark had filed suits on behalf of victims in Arizona, California, Minnesota and Texas.
Two law firms in San Diego filed a wrongful death lawsuit Monday against Andrews & Williamson on behalf of Mildred Hicks, 99, after she died on Aug. 17 from complications related to salmonella.
The FDA said salmonella is an organism that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems.
The agency said healthy persons infected with salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. In rare circumstances, infection with salmonella can result in the organism getting into the bloodstream and producing more severe illnesses such as arterial infections, endocarditis and arthritis.
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