By Jamie Gumbrecht, CNN
(CNN) — Cucumbers distributed to more than two dozen US states and Canada are being recalled after 68 reported salmonella infections. Health agencies are warning that the contaminated cucumbers may still be in people’s refrigerators and should not be eaten.
SunFed Produce announced Wednesday that it’s recalling whole fresh cucumbers sent to foodservice and retail outlets and sold from October 12 through November 26. The recalled products were in bulk cardboard containers labelled SunFed or in generic white boxes or black plastic crates with a sticker with the name of the grower, Agrotato, S. A. de C.V. They were grown in Sonora, Mexico.
The cucumbers were shipped to customers in 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 and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Calgary, Saskatchewan and Ontario. However, the cucumbers may have reached consumers in other states, too, SunFed said.
As of November 26, 68 people in 19 states have been infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Typhimurium and 18 of the infected people have been hospitalized. No deaths have been reported. The last date of illness reported was November 16, the US Food and Drug Administration said in an outbreak update posted Friday.
The recalled cucumbers should be thrown out or destroyed and should not be eaten. People should clean and sanitize surfaces that came into contact with the recalled products.
“These cucumbers may still be in your refrigerator, so check the stickers on your cucumbers. If the sticker shows ‘SunFed Mexico’ as the place where your cucumbers were grown, throw them away or return them to the location where you bought them,” the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a food safety alert posted Friday.
In a statement, SunFed President Craig Slate said the company is “working closely with authorities and the implicated ranch to determine the possible cause. Here at SunFed, food safety and consumer health and wellness have been our priorities for more than 30 years. We require all of our growers to strictly comply with the FDA food safety requirements.”
Symptoms of a salmonella infection include diarrhea and bloody diarrhea, fever, chills, headache, stomach cramps, nausea and vomiting that can start within hours or days of consuming the bacteria. Most people will recover with specific treatment but they should seek immediate attention from a health-care provider if they have severe symptoms, if symptoms that don’t improve after a few days or if there are signs of dehydration. Children, elderly people, people who are pregnant and people with weakened immune systems are more likely to become severely ill.
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