According to the Food and Drug Administration, Bedner Growers Inc., of Boynton Beach, FL, is the source of cucumbers implicated in an outbreak of Salmonella infections. According to FDA investigators, untreated canal water is the most likely source of the pathogen.
The outbreak, which involves two strains of Salmonella — Salmonella Africana and Salmonella Braenderup — has sickened 449 people across 31 states and the District of Columbia. Of the 188 patients interviewed, 129 reported eating cucumbers before becoming ill. There are likely many more outbreak patients than have been reported.
This is because some patients do not seek medical attention, and others are not explicitly tested for Salmonella infection. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for every confirmed patient in a salmonella outbreak, 29 go unconfirmed. Illnesses started on dates ranging from March 11 to June 4.
Of 360 people with information available, 125 have been hospitalized, an unusually high percentage for Salmonella outbreaks. No deaths have been reported. Patients range from less than one year old to 94 years old.
Although laboratory, epidemiological, and traceback data have found that cucumbers from Bedner Growers Inc. are the likely source of illnesses, the grower does not account for all infections in the outbreak. “As part of the investigation, FDA conducted an onsite inspection at Bedner Growers Inc.
, a grower that supplies Fresh Start Produce Sales Inc. FDA collected.
