Publisher’s platform: Florida Ag Department off-base with commentary on cucumbers

– OPINION –

Florida stands alone in criticizing the FDA, CDC and 30 other states in pinpointing the source of a Salmonella outbreak linked to cucumbers.

According to press reports, the Florida Department of Agriculture (FDOA) called the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) tracing of a Salmonella outbreak to a local cucumber grower “inaccurate at best and misleading at worst.” Apparently, the head of food safety at the FDOA, who told the FDA in an email, said, “We find the science to be inaccurate, unsubstantiated, and unnecessarily harmful to the company involved.”

However, according to the FDA and the CDC, public health and regulatory officials in several states have collected several types of data to investigate an outbreak of Salmonella Africana and Salmonella Braenderup infections in multiple states. Epidemiological, traceback and laboratory data show that cucumbers were contaminated with Salmonella and made people sick. CDC and FDA combined these two outbreak investigations because they had several similarities, including where and when illnesses occurred, the demographics of sick people, and the foods they reported eating before becoming ill.

As of July 2, a total of 449 people infected with one of the outbreak strains of Salmonella Africana and Salmonella Braenderup have been reported from 31 states and the District of Columbia. Of these illnesses, 215 people were infected with the newly added Salmonella Braenderup strain. Illnesses began on dates ranging from March 11, 2024 to June 4, 2024. Of the 360 ​​people for whom information was available, 125 have been hospitalized and no deaths have been reported.

Public health researchers used the PulseNet system to identify diseases that may have been part of this outbreak. CDC PulseNet maintains a national database of DNA fingerprints of bacteria that cause foodborne illness. DNA fingerprinting is performed on bacteria using a method called Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS). WGS showed that bacteria from the samples of sick people are genetically closely related. This means that people in this outbreak likely got sick from the same type of food.

The FDA traceback investigation found Bedner Growers, Inc. identified in Florida as a supplier of cucumbers in this outbreak. This one grower does not account for all the diseases in this outbreak. The FDA collected samples from the Florida grower and identified Salmonella Braenderup in untreated canal water. WGS has determined that the Salmonella found in the water is the same strain of Salmonella Braenderup that sickened people in this outbreak. Additional soil and water samples collected from Bedner Growers, Inc. were positive for other Salmonella species. CDC and FDA are investigating whether these strains have also caused illness in humans.

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