— OPINION — Florida stands alone in criticism of FDA, CDC and 30 other states in determining the source of a Salmonella outbreak linked to cucumbers. According to press reports, the Florida Department of Agriculture (FDOA) called the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) tracing of a Salmonella outbreak to a local cucumber grower “at best inaccurate, and at worst misleading.” Apparently, the head of food safety at the FDOA, who told the FDA in an email “We find the science inaccurate, unsubstantiated and unnecessarily damaging to the firm implicated.” However, according to the FDA, CDC, public health and regulatory officials in several states collected different types of data to investigate a multistate outbreak of Salmonella Africana and Salmonella Braenderup infections.
Epidemiologic, traceback and laboratory data show that cucumbers were contaminated with Salmonella and made people sick. CDC and FDA combined these two outbreak investigations as they shared several similarities, including where and when illnesses occurred, the demographics of ill people and the foods they reported eating before they became sick. As of July 2, a total of 449 people infected with one of the outbreak strains of Salmonella Africana and Salmonella Braenderup have been reported from 31 states and the District of Columbia.
Of these illnesses, 215 people were infected with the newly added Salmonella Braenderup strain. Illnesses started on dates ranging from March 11, 2024, to June.