A man has died in Italy after eating a broccoli and sausage sandwich suspected to have been contaminated with a deadly toxin.
Authorities have ordered a recall of broccoli across the country after nine others were hospitalised with similar symptoms, all linked to the same street vendor.
Health officials believe the illnesses may be the result of an outbreak of botulism – a rare but potentially fatal toxin that can develop in certain foods, such as broccoli, if improperly processed.
The victim has been named as 52-year-old Luigi Di Sarno. Those taken ill with him included two women in their 40s and two 17-year-olds, all of whom were hospitalised.
Mr Di Sarno was driving his family home from their holiday in Calabria when they stopped for a bite to eat in Diamante, off the coast of Cosenza province in southern Italy.
All five people ate the same meal from the food truck, and all came down with symptoms of botulism linked to eating infected broccoli.
Two of the patients were said to be in a serious condition when they arrived in intensive care.
Botulism is a result of toxins produced by Clostridium botulinum bacteria and attacks the nervous system, causing breathing difficulties, muscle paralysis and is fatal in around 10 per cent of cases.
The infection is rare and is usually contracted by eating contaminated food.
Local media reports that the Paola Public Prosecutor's Office instantly seized all jars of broccoli in oil.
Authorities also seized the food van where the sandwiches were prepared as an investigation seeks to determine how the toxin was spread.
Mr Di Sarno is described as an artist and musician, who was taking family back home to Cercola, in the province of Naples, on Thursday.
It was while driving on the highway near Lagonegro in Potenza, that Mr Di Sarno rapidly fell ill and he was forced to pull over in the small town of Basilicata.
Emergency services rushed to the scene but Mr Di Sarno sadly died before making it to hospital. An autopsy is due to be carried out to determine his cause of death.
Other customers besides his family are said to have fallen ill after eating from the same vendor and they were admitted to hospital in Cosenza.
Due to authorities’ immediate action in seizing the jars of broccoli in oil, local media have suggested that botulism is the likely cause of the illnesses.
Botulism is headline news in Italy at the moment, after eight people were hospitalised after eating infected guacamole at a festival in Sardinia last month.
The victims are believed to have eaten a dip on tacos at a Mexican food stand at Fiesta Latin, held between July 22 and 25 at Monserrato.
The cases have led to health officials flying in vials of antitoxin serum to treat those who fell ill with botulism.
Calabria Region's Department of Health and Welfare stated: "The emergency procedure established in these cases has been activated, which requires immediate notification to the Poison Control Centre 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.
"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."
