The Salmonella Poona epidemic was first reported back in September last year. Now, it has been found that the epidemic was caused by Mexican cucumbers and has reportedly caused 52 deaths in 16 states, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, as reported in Food Safety News.
In its latest update, however, the CDC reported 888 illnesses and 6 deaths in 39 states. The toxic cucumbers were said to have come from Baja, Mexico. They were reportedly sent to the United States by a food distributor in San Diego.
Food Safety News further reported that: "FDA on Sept. 14 issued an updated Import Alert to include cucumbers from Rancho Don Juanito de R.L. de C.V. located in Baja, Mexico. It found Salmonella in the farm's cucumbers through import sampling. Cucumbers from the Baja, Mexico grower were added to a second Import Alert last Sept. 23."
The Food and Drug Administration noticed the cucumbers were not packed in accordance to food safety standards.
In fact, Food Safety News reported that:
"To correct the apparent violation, Rancho Don Juanito de R.L. de C.V. was told it needs to demonstrate it has identified the potential sources and routes of contamination and have taken steps to prevent future contamination before the company's cucumbers can be removed from the Import Alert."
January 2016 reported the following number of people sick because of the cucumbers in the following states:
Alabama (1), Alaska (19), Arizona (134), Arkansas (13), California (241), Colorado (21), Connecticut (1), Florida (1), Hawaii (1), Idaho (26), Illinois (11), Indiana (5), Iowa (7), Kansas (2), Kentucky (1), Louisiana (5), Maryland (1), Minnesota (43), Missouri (15), Montana (16), Nebraska (8), Nevada (17), New Hampshire (1), New Mexico (35), New York (6), North Dakota (8), Ohio (3), Oklahoma (13), Oregon (23), Pennsylvania (2), South Carolina (10), South Dakota (3), Tennessee (1), Texas (52), Utah (62), Virginia (1), Washington (26), Wisconsin (46), and Wyoming (7).
The Limited Edition cucumbers are known to have caused the Salmonella Poon epidemic. Food Poising News.com described the cucumbers as dark green in color, length of between 7 to 10 inches, and a diameter of between 1.75 and 2.5 inches.
