A congresswoman from Connecticut told the FDA “American families should not be dying from the food they eat” and asked the agency to step up its investigation of an ongoing seven-month Salmonella outbreak that has killed six people. “Since this outbreak (which began in July 2015) was first reported on Sept. 4, 2015, there have been a total of 888 illnesses, 191 hospitalizations and six deaths across 39 states from Salmonella-tainted cucumbers,” U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, a Democrat representing the 3rd District in Connecticut, told the Food and Drug Administration’s Acting Commissioner Stephen Ostroff in a letter dated Feb. 5. “I find it troubling that 106 of these illnesses were reported after the recalled cucumbers should have no longer been available on store shelves — strongly pointing to a continued contamination somewhere along the supply chain. …Given the prevalence of this outbreak, it is clear the manner in which we have addressed this problem today is inadequate.” An FDA spokesman said the agency received the letter and is in communication with DeLauro, who is the ranking House member on the appropriations committee that decides FDA’s budget. “The FDA takes Congresswoman DeLauro’s concerns seriously and remains committed to working directly with the congresswoman to address the concerns raised in her letter to Dr. Ostroff,” the FDA spokesman said Feb. 5. 
Company actions to date San Diego-based Andrew & Williamson Fresh Produce Inc. recalled its Limited Edition branded cucumbers, grown in Mexico and distributed in the United States, on Sept. 5, 2015. Custom Produce Sales, which bought cucumbers from A&W for distribution under the Fat Boy brand, recalled its cukes Sept. 11. As of 12:45 a.m. Feb. 6, Andrew & Williamson website’s most recent post about the outbreak was from Sept. 25. However, Dave Murray, a partner at Andrew & Williamson, said on Feb. 5 that company officials “are fully cooperating with health officials to ensure we are doing everything possible to learn how this could have happened.” Murray said cucumbers are not being grown on the farm associated with the outbreak. The California packing facility remains closed. “We also continue to work with food safety experts to guide our activities and efforts to prevent this from happening again,” he said. Some of the efforts he reported were:
- Contacting all customers;
- Shutting down all harvest and packing operations at the California facility;
- Opening fields and facilities to government inspectors from the United States and Mexico;
- Thoroughly evaluating cucumber farming and packing operations;
- Reviewing all control processes;
- Completely scrubbing and cleaning the facility, which remains closed;
- Bringing in outside food safety experts, including researcher Trevor Suslow from University of California-Davis, to help us evaluate our systems;
- Enhancing food safety systems on farms and in facilities upon the advice of these food safety experts;
- Sharing what we have learned with other farmers and shippers whenever possible and whenever we are asked; and
- Continually communicating with federal and state health officials.
On Sept 14 the FDA slapped an import alert on cucumbers from Andrew & Williamson’s growing operation in Mexico, which means cucumbers from Rancho Don Juanito de R.L. de C.V. in Baja, Mexico, cannot come across the U.S. border until further notice. People continue to develop new illnesses Despite the recalls and import alert, health officials continue to see new infections caused by the relatively unusual Salmonella poona and its specific strains found on the A&W cucumbers. 