At Least 449 Sick in the Cucumber Salmonella Outbreak

There are at least 449 sick in the cucumber Salmonella outbreak, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). and there are 125 people who have been hospitalized. A new cucumber supplier has been named: Bedner Growers of Florida.

The case count by state is: Alabama (4), Arkansas (1), Connecticut (7), Delaware (2), Florida (52), Georgia (33), Illinois (4), Indiana (2), Iowa (4), Kentucky (17), Maine (3), Maryland (13), Massachusetts (11), Michigan (9), Minnesota (9), Missouri (3), Nevada (1), New Jersey (19), New York (57), North Carolina (22), Ohio (18), Oklahoma (1), Pennsylvania (60), Rhode Island (7), South Carolina (20), Tennessee (20), Texas (2), Vermont (1), Virginia (43), Washington (1), Wisconsin (2), and the District of Columbia (1). The patient age range is from less than one year to 94. And the number of hospitalizations is 125.

There are two strains of Salmonella sickening people in this outbreak. The first is Salmonella Africana, which has sickened 234 people, and the second is Salmonella Braenderup, which has sickened 215 people. Illness onset dates range from March 11, 2024 to June 4, 2024. Of 360 people who gave information about their illnesses to investigators, 125 have been hospitalized, for a hospitalization rate of 38%, which is almost double the typical hospitalization rate for Salmonella outbreaks.

A new supplier of cucumbers has been identified by investigators. Bedner Growers in Florida was identified by traceback, but those cucumbers do not account for all of the illnesses in this outbreak. The FDA collected samples at Bedner Growers farm and found Salmonella Braenderup in untreated canal water. Whole genome sequencing found that pathogen is the outbreak strain that has made people sick. Soil and water samples collected at Bedner Growers were positive for other strains of Salmonella as well. The CDC and FDA are investigating to see if those strains have caused illness.

Bedner Growers is no longer growing and harvesting cucumbers for the season. The contaminated cucumbers are no longer available for purchase. But people may have frozen recipes using the cucumbers; those foods are not safe to eat, since Salmonella bacteria can survive the freezing process.

If you ate cucumbers and have been ill with the symptoms of Salmonella food poisoning, see your doctor. You may be part of the 449 sick in the cucumber Salmonella outbreak.

If you have been sickened with a food poisoning infection, please contact our experienced attorneys for help with a possible lawsuit at 1-888-377-8900 or text us at 612-261-0856. Our firm represents clients in lawsuits against grocery stores, restaurants, and food processors.