Victor Yee/istockphoto
It seems like almost nothing is safe to eat lately thanks to endless food recalls. The latest: Whole fresh cucumbers from Sunfed Produce have been linked to salmonella in the U.S. and Canada, according to a U.S. Food and Drug Administration recall notice.
Here’s everything you need to know.
The recalled cucumbers may be contaminated with salmonella. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is working with the FDA to investigate a salmonella outbreak, and they linked the illnesses to cucumbers distributed by Sunfed Produce.
Salmonella can cause serious or fatal infections in the elderly, young children, or those with weakened immune systems. It typically causes fever, diarrhea, stomach pain, and vomiting in otherwise healthy adults.
Affected cucumbers were grown by Agrotato, S.A. de C.V. in Sonora, Mexico, and sold by Sunfed Produce. They’re labeled as “whole fresh American cucumbers” on the bulk cardboard boxes, and may have a Sunfed sticker with a barcode on them. They were sold both at retail grocery stores and shipped to institutional customers like schools and restaurants.
The recalled Sunfed cucumbers were sold between Oct. 12 and Nov. 26, 2024 at a number of grocery stores, including Walmart and Wegmans. A recall notice posted on Costco’s recall page indicated that the recalled Sunfed cucumbers were also sold at some Costco Business Center locations.
They were shipped to at least 26 states as well as five Canadian provinces: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Alberta, British Columbia, Calgary, Ontario, and Saskatchewan.
So far, at least 68 people in 19 states have been sickened with salmonella in this outbreak. Eighteen people have needed to be hospitalized for their illness, but the “true number of sick people in this outbreak is likely much higher than the number reported,” according to the CDC. There have been clusters of illness reported at two assisted-living facilities, three school districts, and one restaurant. The recalled cucumbers were served at all those locations.
Most whole cucumbers are sold without a label in grocery stores. If you’re unsure whether you have Sunfed Produce cucumbers in your fridge, call the store where you purchased them to determine if they are part of the recall. If you do have recalled Sunfed whole cucumbers or you can’t determine where they were grown, the FDA advises you to throw them away and clean and sanitize any surfaces that have come in contact with them, like your refrigerator’s produce drawer.
Anyone with further questions can contact Sunfed Produce’s recall hotline at (888) 542-5849 Monday through Friday between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. MST.
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