Giant Eagle is warning customers who purchased regular cucumbers from its Northeast Ohio stores in the past week that some of the vegetables they may have purchased may be contaminated with the <"https://www.yourlawyer.com/practice_areas/food_poisoning">Salmonella pathogen, said Cleveland.com.
Participants in the Giant Eagle’s grocery reward program received automated telephone calls advising of the potential foodborne pathogenic danger and urging consumers to discard the cucumbers or return the potentially contaminated produce to Giant Eagle for a refund. English and pickling cucumbers are not included in this recall, said Cleveland.com.
Cleveland.com said that it is not known if cucumbers sold at other supermarkets are impacted by the recall, but noted that, according the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA), this is the second nationwide recall that has involved Salmonella-contaminated cucumbers in the past six weeks.
Contamination with the Salmonella pathogen can cause salmonellosis, which can lead to serious consequences, most especially in the elderly, infants, and those with impaired immune systems, who may experience a more serious illness and symptoms. In these patients, the infection may spread from the intestines to the blood stream, and then to other body sites, and can cause death unless the person is treated promptly with antibiotics.
Salmonella is dangerous and sometimes deadly; in some cases the strains are drug resistant. As a matter-of-fact, food safety watchdog group, The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CPSI) just announced that it filed a regulatory petition asking the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to deem four antibiotic-resistant Salmonella strains as adulterants in certain meats, according to the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy (CIDRAP) wrote. The four strains involved are: Salmonella Heidelberg, Newport, Hadar, and Typhimurium. All have been linked with foodborne illness outbreaks, CIDRAP added.
Salmonella Hadar contaminated turkey burgers earlier this year; 12 people in 10 states were sickened, according to the most recent information from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), wrote CIDRAP. Also, a 2009 outbreak of antibiotic-resistant Salmonella Newport was associated with Cargill beef; about 40 people in four states were sickened, said the CSPI.
When pathogens, such as the foodborne bacteria, Salmonella, become resistant to antibiotic treatment, treatment options are minimized, treatment becomes significantly more difficult, and patients cannot always be brought back to their presickness state.
The CDC notes that people suffering from salmonellosis usually experience symptoms beginning 12 to 72 hours after becoming contaminated. Symptoms may include fever, vomiting, abdominal cramps, and diarrhea and usually last 4 to 7 days. Most people recover without antibiotic treatment; however, diarrhea can be very severe, and hospitalization may be required.
No illnesses have been reported, to date, in connection with this particular recall; however, the effects of Salmonella poisoning can take some time from ingestion of the contaminated product to symptoms becoming manifest.
