Urgent product recall issued just days after man dies eating broccoli

Italy has ordered broccoli to be recalled across the country. (Image: Getty)

Authorities in Italy have ordered the recall of four broccoli products amid fears of botulism contamination. The Italian Health Ministry urged people who bought the 1-kilogram products not to eat them and return them to the shop they got them from. 

The products are under two different brand names but are produced by the same company, Ciro Velleca Srl di Scafati, in the Salerno province. Two products recalled are from the brand Vittoria. One bears the number 280325 and expires on March 28, 2028, while the second is product 290425, with an expiration date of April 29, 2028. Two other products from the Bel Sapore brand are also being recalled. One bears the number 060325 and expires on March 6, 2028, while the other is the product 280325 and expires on March 28, 2028.  

A man died and nine others were hospitalised after eating broccoli. (Image: Getty)

This recall comes just days after a man died and nine more were hospitalised with suspected botulism. It is not believed the recall is linked to the incident. 

Luigi Di Sarno, 52, an artist and musician, passed away after eating a broccoli and sausage sandwich from a food truck along the Diamante seafront in the Cosenza province. 

Others, including two women in their 40s and two 17-year-olds, were hospitalised with similar symptoms, all linked to the same vendor. The Paola Public Prosecutor's Office ordered the seizure of jars of broccoli in oil, and the food truck has been taken amid an investigation. 

The rare toxin is produced by the bacteria Clostridium botulinum, which can contaminate food that has not been properly preserved or processed.

It can attack the nervous system, leading to breathing issues and muscle paralysis, which are deadlin in about 10% of cases.

The Calabria Region's Department of Health and Welfare said: "The emergency procedure established in these cases has been activated, which requires immediate notification to the Poison Control Center in Pavia, the only national centre designated for the management of botulism.

"No region or hospital in the country is authorised to store the antivenom in their own facilities.

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"This serum, however, is exclusively available to the Ministry of Health, which holds it in designated secure locations and distributes it only through the Lombardy Poison Control Centre.

"The first two vials, used for the first patients, were sent directly from the Military Pharmacy in Taranto. However, as the number of cases increased, additional supplies became necessary.

"Yesterday, the Calabria Region, through Azienda Zero, provided a 118 aircraft that flew to the San Camillo Hospital in Rome, where the ministry had centralised additional vials of the antivenom to facilitate distribution."