Most people think of cucumbers—if they think of them at all—as a harmless vegetable that tastes great in salads and that pickles nicely. But when the green and crunchy vegetables are contaminated with Salmonella bacteria you can’t blame people for being put off the salad topping for a while.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control announced August 14 that nearly 450 Americans were sickened recently by eating cucumbers contaminated with the gut-sickening bacteria. Cucumbers have been in the CDC’s sights since June as the agency tracks down Florida-grown cucumbers they believe are the source of the Salmonella illness outbreak.
The latest wave sickened people in 31 states, according to the agency, and badly enough that 125 had to go to the hospital for treatment. So far, no deaths have been reported. But as is always the case with food poisoning from bacterial contamination, the CDC said the number of people sickened is likely much higher, as the total number of cases is never fully reported. Those who were sickened by Salmonella may not even know it came from their lunch, instead assuming that they’d caught a few-day stomach bug.
While the agency continues to investigate the source of the contamination, it also said there is “likely no ongoing risk to the public.”
Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it had tested contaminated cucumbers and found a match between the strain of Salmonella on the vegetables and a strain in canal water that had not been treated in Palm Beach County, Florida. But the cucumbers from the one grower in that area cannot account for all the people sickened by the latest outbreak.
The FDA said two farms, Bedner Growers Inc., and Thomas Produce Company, both of Palm Beach, had supplied cucumbers contaminated with the bacteria.
Anyone who has experienced food poisoning knows that it is one of the most miserable sicknesses to endure, and Salmonella contamination is no exception. Though some people who eat contaminated food will have no symptoms, others will begin getting sick within 8 hours to three days after eating the adulterated food.
Like most food poisonings, a Salmonella infection causes nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and stomach cramps. For many otherwise healthy people, this will be unpleasant but will pass on its own. But in severe cases, sufferers can lose so much water from vomiting and diarrhea that they need to be hospitalized and rehydrated with intravenous fluids.