Latest news with #cucumbers
Daily Mail
09-07-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
FDA issues urgent recall for cucumbers over deadly contamination
Federal health officials have issued an urgent recall due to a deadly bacterial contamination in thousands of pounds of cucumbers. On Tuesday, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) upgraded their June 16 alert, recalling 71 boxes of fresh cucumbers from Fuentes Farms, to the agency's highest level - meaning the contaminated food could cause death if eaten. Nearly 3,000 pounds of produce were potentially contaminated with Salmonella, a type of bacteria that can cause food poisoning and be deadly if the infection spreads to the bloodstream or causes severe dehydration. Other symptoms include diarrhea, fever, and stomach cramps, which can be serious, especially for young children, the elderly, or those with weakened immune systems. Texas-based Fuentes Farms revealed that the recall affected cucumbers in 40-pound boxes containing the code number 357. The produce was sold by vendors at flea markets in the McAllen and Alamo areas of Texas. If the cucumbers were handled by vendors and customers without taking proper hygiene into account, the bacteria could easily spread to other foods and people in these outdoor markets. The FDA found the Salmonella during a routine sampling of the company's produce in June. Fuentes Farms has stopped production and distribution of cucumbers as the FDA continues their investigation into what caused the problem. 'Consumers who believe they may have purchased cucumbers from Lot #357 are advised to dispose of the product or return it to the place of purchase,' Fuentes Farms wrote in a statement released by the FDA. So far, no illnesses have been reported and health officials haven't discovered any widespread Salmonella outbreaks linked to this recall. However, a Class I recall by the FDA is the most severe type of recall, issued when there is a reasonable chance that exposure to a certain product will cause serious harm or death. Class I recalls require immediate action, including companies notifying their customers, immediate removal of the product from markets, and a consumer warning to throw out or return the item right away. Fuentes Farms noted that the cucumbers were distributed and sold between May 31 and June 3. According to the FDA and CDC, Salmonella is one of the leading causes of foodborne illnesses in the US, with produce-related outbreaks often tied to contamination from water, soil, or improper handling. A 2017 study in Food Protection Trends found that unsafe handling of raw meat and unwashed fruit and vegetables significantly increases the risk of both E coli and salmonella infections. Cucumbers have been implicated in several outbreaks in recent years, though they are not as frequent a source as leafy greens or poultry. In May, a Salmonella outbreak tied to cucumbers was traced back to Bedner Growers, Inc. in Florida which resulted in 69 illnesses across 21 states. In June 2024, the FDA and CDC discovered another multistate outbreak of Salmonella linked to cucumbers from Bedner Growers, Inc. and Thomas Produce Company in Florida. That outbreak sickened 551 people across 34 states and Washington DC, with 149 people ending up in the hospital. The CDC has estimated that Salmonella causes about 1.35 million infections annually in the US. While contaminated sources and poor hygiene among those handling these vegetables is a main culprit of Salmonella infections, it's not the only way bacteria can spread and thrive. A 2020 study in Food Control found that refrigerator temperatures above 41°F (5°C) can allow pathogens like listeria or salmonella to survive, potentially contributing to foodborne illness. According to Professor Judith Evans, of London South Bank University, and Oleskii Omelchenko, a PhD researcher at the Quadram Institute, refrigerators can often become a breeding ground for disease. 'Part of the problem is that many fridges lack an accurate, accessible way to monitor their internal temperature,' Evans and Omelchenko said in The Conversation. 'On top of that, every time you open the door, warm air rushes in. The longer the door stays open, especially if you're lingering while choosing a snack, the more the internal temperature climbs toward room temperature, creating a more suitable environment for bacteria to thrive.'
Yahoo
03-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
That cucumber recall? You might want to check your fridge
Does it feel like there have been lots of cucumber recalls lately? You are not wrong. The Food and Drug Administration has classified 137 potential salmonella recall reports for food products containing cucumbers in 2025, more than in any other year with available data. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has linked cucumbers to a current salmonella outbreak. Salmonella bacteria are a major cause of foodborne illness, infecting 1.35 million people and killing 420 people each year. Since 2012, the Food and Drug Administration has classified over 3,200 salmonella food reports, according to federal data. On average, a salmonella recall lasts nearly a year, a USA TODAY review of the FDA data found. Currently, there are 217 salmonella recall reports ongoing. You can explore the products here: The FDA has the authority to mandate a recall, but about 99% are voluntarily issued by the companies that make the products. After a recall is initiated, the agency classifies the health hazard presented by the product from Class I (a reasonable probability that the product will cause serious adverse health consequences or death) to Class III (the product is not likely to cause adverse health consequences). About 44% of food recall reports have been classified as Class I. On the other hand, 80% of salmonella food reports are classified as Class I. Most people get infected with salmonella by eating contaminated food like raw or undercooked meat, poultry, eggs, raw or unpasteurized milk and other dairy products, and produce. According to the CDC, 1 in 25 packages of chicken in the grocery store is contaminated with salmonella. Department of Human and Health Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. is among the many promoting raw milk, but experts caution against it. 'We have people whose families have had children and parents and others sickened after drinking raw milk,' said Sandra Eskin, CEO at the nonprofit Stop Foodborne Illness. 'It has salmonella in it, it can have E. coli, and it can have any number of pathogens. That's why they invented pasteurization.' Warmer weather can also create ideal conditions for the bacteria to grow, so it's recommended to refrigerate perishable foods. Other sources of salmonella include contaminated water and the handling of animals. Symptoms start within six hours to six days from the time of exposure and include fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and stomach pain. Most people recover within 4 to 7 days without treatment, but some cases lead to hospitalization and death. Since the start of President Donald Trump's second term, there have been severe cuts and the federal health services workforce is expected to drop from 82,000 to 62,000, USA TODAY previously reported. Trump argued the cuts are a way to save taxpayers' money, but experts say allocating resources towards food safety is critical. An FDA spokesperson told USA TODAY in an email statement that the agency prioritizes food safety and is committed to working with all stakeholders. 'The layoffs relate to administrative staff positions in the FDA. There has been no impact to operational investigators conducting food safety inspections,' the FDA spokesperson said. Over a decade ago, when annual salmonella numbers were estimated to be lower, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated that foodborne illness cost the country $3.7 billion per year, most of which was attributed to premature deaths. Eskin, who previously worked at the U.S. Department of Agriculture overseeing food safety and inspections, said recalls are essential for public health. 'A recall is the last line of defense that you and I have to prevent getting sick,' Eskin said, 'if we're going to a restaurant, or more importantly, going to the grocery store.' Dr. Susan Kansagra, chief medical officer at the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, said in an email statement that federal funds support a wide range of state-level activities related to foodborne illness, like laboratory testing, case reporting, and guiding providers and the public on prevention and treatment. 'Loss of funding and staffing decreases our national capacity to do these activities and therefore quickly detect and respond to foodborne illness,' Kansagra said. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: After flood of cucumber recalls, you should check your fridge
Yahoo
02-07-2025
- Yahoo
700 pounds of meth found among load of cukes. Why smugglers love their fruits and veggies.
Cucumber. Jalapeño. Cheese. Onion. Avocado. It sounds like a delicious spicy salad. But they're actually the ingredients of drug smuggling. Federal prosecutors say an arrest in Georgia of men charged with trying to ship 700 pounds of meth inside a tractor-trailer packed with cucumbers is the latest case of accused smugglers cooking up a scheme to hide their illegal main course. Andres Jasso Jr., 37, and Rufino Pineda-Perez, 59, were arrested in Gainesville, Georgia, after federal agents discovered they were hiding thousands of packages of drugs among 20 pallet boxes containing cucumbers, federal officials announced July 2. 'Thanks to the diligent work of our federal and state law enforcement partners, a tremendous amount of meticulously concealed methamphetamine was located, was seized, and will never hit the street,' said Theodore S. Hertzberg, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia. 'Our office will aggressively prosecute criminals who attempt to use North Georgia as a distribution hub for their deadly poisons.' Cukes are one of just many fresh vegetables smugglers use to move hundreds of pounds of drugs, according to a review of cases by USA TODAY. Law enforcement has uncovered everything from cocaine hidden among bananas to heroin stashed among pungent shipments of garlic and onions. Experts say smugglers see hiding drugs amid fresh fruits and vegetables as one of the best ways to slip past customs agents. 'It's very common to smuggle drugs by concealing them in produce shipments,' said Mike LaSusa, a deputy director at InSight Crime, a think tank focused on drug cartels. 'Because produce spoils quickly and damages easily, customs and law enforcement have to inspect it both quickly and carefully, which makes it hard to do a thorough job.' Videos of the bust shared by the Drug Enforcement Administration show a neatly packaged operation. The tractor-trailer is full of plastic-wrapped cardboard boxes containing loads of cucumbers. But in breaking apart the boxes, federal agents reveal four packets of drugs are hidden within the folded cardboard, videos show. Jasso and Pineda-Perez were discovered at the scene in a Kia Optima sedan parked next to the tractor trailer, federal court documents say. Their role in the operation was to unload the pallet boxes and remove the drugs from among the cucumbers, court papers say. Someone else was supposed to then pick up the hundreds of pounds of drugs, according to court papers. Pineda-Perez is a Mexican national with no legal status in the U.S., officials say. According to the Department of Justice, he was previously deported in 2001 for transporting marijuana and was deported a second time after being sentenced in 2015 to over six years in prison for transporting cocaine. Jasso is from Brookhaven, Georgia, according to the U.S. attorney's office. Research by drug trafficking experts shows fresh fruit and vegetables are a smuggler's dish of choice for several reasons. Fresh produce is chosen because so much of it is moving between ports that authorities can't properly inspect it all, an analysis from 2019 by InSight Crime shows. Produce also spoils so quickly that customs officials are incentivized to perform their inspections quickly, analysis shows. Finally, produce is so cheap that the profits from the drugs compared to the loss of the produce are especially high, according to InSight. An entire shipment of bananas costs about 60% of the cost of a kilogram of cocaine, according to the 2019 analysis. InSight found that smuggling drugs amid produce shipments had become so common that some authorities began instead to go after fruit shipping companies suspected of being fronts for drug traffickers. News reports and analysis show that smugglers chose a range of fruits and vegetables to move drugs. Police in 2024 found 1.7 tons of cocaine hidden among a shipment of avocados in Colombia, according to reporting by ABC News. The drugs were bound for Portugal. Authorities in the Dominican Republic last December performed what was then the biggest drug bust in the country's history when they discovered 9.5 tons of cocaine in a shipment of bananas, the Guardian reported. The drugs were also bound for Europe. Heroin, marijuana, meth and cocaine have also been found among shipments of celery, cheese, jalapeño, and ginger. Authorities at the U.S.-Mexico border discovered 18 pounds of cocaine hidden within four cheese wheels after performing X-ray scans of the dairy product. The cheese smuggling method, according to Food & Wine, is more common in Italy where authorities have found hundreds of pounds of cocaine in everything from wheels of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese to Grana Padano. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 700 pounds of meth in cucumbers: Feds say fruits, veggies are cover
Yahoo
28-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
The $3.65 Aldi Find That's So Good Fans Are Buying 10 at a Time
Price: $3.65 for a 24‑ounce I Love It: These pickles deliver balanced sweet flavor with a satisfying spicy kick. I enjoy them for snacking and adding to salads, burgers, and the majority of my teenage years, I firmly disliked pickles. The odd thing about it is I have vivid memories of eating whole dill pickles as a child with no qualms whatsoever. Ultimately, what turned me off the uniquely salty yet sour ingredient was the realization that texture plays a big part in what I enjoy eating, and at the time, pickles' cold crunch wasn't for me. Thankfully, my palate has refined with age. As an adult, I have a much larger appreciation for the dynamic range of flavor and texture that can be accomplished with the simple addition of pickles to some of my favorite recipes. A deliciously crisp grouping of sliced pickles on top of a juicy cheeseburger? Sign me up. A dill pickle on the side with my club sandwich? What a nice compliment. With my newfound love for pickles, I can't help but take notice when my local grocery store has a new variety to try out. Upon a recent trip to Aldi, I noticed the popular discount grocer had just started carrying a jar of Great Gherkins Sweet Heat Bread and Butter Pickle Chips that instantly caught my eye. With an ingredients list that includes the likes of cucumbers, sea salt, mustard seeds, and dehydrated red bell peppers, I couldn't help but be intrigued by the potential burst of flavor possible with these pickles. Anybody familiar with Aldi knows that when the discount grocer hits the mark with an item, customers tend to flock to their local to buy up to 10 at a time. The shelf at my local Aldi was almost cleared out when I got my hands on a jar of Great Gherkins Sweet Heat Bread and Butter Pickle Chips, and thank the grocery gods I did because these pickles are seriously amazing. And at $3.65 for a 24-ounce jar, who could resist? From the first bite, my taste buds were gently caressed by the initial sweet taste of Aldi's pickles. Soon after, I was hit with a swift kick of heat that sticks around long enough to elicit a reaction but not so much that it overpowers the flavor. In terms of the crispness of the pickle chips, I would give them a 6/10. The crunch is there, no doubt, but not as much as I was hoping for it to be, though it was not a dealbreaker. At first, I quickly snacked on these pickle chips rather than just adding them to any of my meals. Once I'm done snacking, though, I can see myself topping my homemade smashburgers with them or even including them inside a Buffalo chicken wrap. I also think they would elevate any sort of dill pickle dip, especially if you have the perfect savory chip to combine with the sweet heat flavor. Coleslaw, fried pickle chips, and potato salad would also all be incredible uses for this one-of-a-kind jar of pickles. Read the original article on SIMPLYRECIPES
Daily Mail
18-06-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
FDA issues most deadly recall alert for vegetable that could KILL if eaten
The FDA has given cucumbers linked to a multi-state salmonella outbreak its deadliest classification. Last month, Louisiana-based Supreme Service Solutions LLC, or Supreme Produce, voluntarily recalled 75,000 pounds of snack trays containing cucumbers bought from Bedner Growers Inc because they were contaminated with the deadly bacteria salmonella. Bedner Growers Inc has been the subject of a larger salmonella outbreak in cucumbers sold in 18 states that has caused 45 illnesses and 16 hospitalizations. The recall included 16 different snack trays, salads and premade vegetable bowls purchased between May 8 and May 21, 2025. They were sold in Kroger stores in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Missouri, Arkansas and Michigan. The FDA Tuesday designated the ongoing recall 'Class I,' which describes 'a situation in which there is a reasonable probability that the use of, or exposure to, a violative product will cause serious adverse health consequences or death,' according to the agency. No illnesses have been specifically linked to the cucumbers from Supreme Produce designated as Class I. Salmonella, which is caused by eating foods contaminated with animal feces, strikes 1.3million Americans every year, hospitalizes 26,500 and kills around 400. Scroll down to see the affected products While most people recover, children or older people may suffer deadly bloodstream infections due to having weakened immune systems. Symptoms include bloody diarrhea, fever, and stomach cramps that begin six hours to six days after initial infection, according to the CDC. Investigators in the initial Bedner Growers salmonella outbreak found the bacteria from samples on the farm that matches those of people who got sick. It was detected as part of a follow-up inspection in April to a 2024 outbreak that sickened 551 people and led to 155 hospitalizations in 34 states and Washington, D.C. In that 2024 outbreak, investigators found salmonella bacteria linked to many of the illnesses in untreated canal water used at farms operated by Bedner Growers and Thomas Produce Company. Contaminated products should already be past their shelf-life and be out of distribution. The FDA urged consumers who bought recalled cucumbers to immediately discard them. Consumers who have purchased the recalled products may obtain additional information by contacting Bedner Growers, Inc at 866-222-9180, M-F 8:00 am - 5:00 pm EDT. Product UPC Purchase dates Cucumber Bowl with Ranch Dip 850054894519 05/08/2025 to 05/21/2025 Cucumber Slices W/Tajin 850053685699 05/08/2021 to 05/21/2025 Fruit and Veg Tray 850065403748 05/08/2025 to 05/21/2025 Cucumber Carrot Ranch Pack 850065403557 05/08/2025 to 05/21/2025 Large Vegetable Tray 850054894571 05/08/2025 to 05/21/2025 Vegetable Bowl $5 850065403380 05/08/2025 to 05/21/2025 Vegetable Bowl $10 860010507131 05/08/2025 to 05/21/2025 Vegetable Ranch Tray No Dip Small 850054894335 05/08/2025 to 05/21/2025 Chef Salad 850065403328 05/08/2025 to 05/21/2025 Family Cobb Salad 850054894625 05/08/2025 to 05/21/2025 Individual Garden Salad 850054894618 05/08/2025 to 05/21/2025 Individual Greek Salad 850054894649 05/08/2025 to 05/21/2025 Family Garden Salad 850054894601 05/08/2025 to 05/21/2025 Individual Cobb Salad 850054894632 05/08/2025 to 05/21/2025 Southwest Salad 850065403069 05/08/2025 to 05/21/2025 Cucumber w/Ranch Snack Cup 850065403144 05/08/2025 to 05/21/2025
