The U.S. Food & Drug Administration is advising restaurants and foodservice distributors to check the source of their cucumbers after a Mexican importer discovered its shipments into the United States may have been contaminated with salmonella.
The cukes are full-sized, sliceable specimens grown by Agrotato S.A. in the Mexican state of Sonora. The vegetables were sold in 26 U.S. states by the importer SunFed Produce. The FDA says the potentially poisonous cucumbers may have been imported into the U.S. by other companies as well but has yet to identify those potential sources.
The SunFed products were shipped in bulk cardboard containers subdivided into white boxes or black plastic crates. The wholesale packages may bear a stamp reading “Agrotato, S.A. de C.V.”
The safety agency said 68 people had been sickened by the salmonella bacteria as of Friday and 18 of the victims required hospitalization. The Agrogato cucumbers were sold between Oct. 12 and Nov. 26.
The produce had been shipped to Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.
The outbreak, revealed during the Thanksgiving holiday, is the latest in what’s been a recent spate of food contaminations affecting restaurants. Federal food-safety officials have announced recalls involving ground beef, onions, eggs and domestically grown cucumbers.
Salmonella can cause diarrhea, abdominal cramps and fever over a 72-hour period. The symptoms can be life-threatening for children under age 5, the elderly and persons with compromised immune systems.
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