Salmonella in South Florida grower's produce hospitalized woman, lawsuit claims
And that grower has been linked to two major salmonella outbreaks over the past two springs.
As of the last update from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on June 30, the salmonella outbreak linked to Bedner Growers whole fresh cucumbers had hospitalized 22 people. One of those people is Brandi Jackson, of Pearl, Mississippi, according to her lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi.
Booneville, Mississsippi's Casey Langston Lott of Langston & Lott is Jackson's lead attorney while Marler Clark's Bill Marler out of Washginton is vice counsel.
No attorney has been listed for Bedner Growers on the court docket. The phone number for Bedner Growers has been disconnected. There was no response to an email sent through the Contact Us part of Bedner Farm Fresh Market's website.
Bedner was sued in Palm Beach County court after the summer 2024 salmonella outbreak traced to cucumbers from Bedner and Boca Raton's Thomas Produce Company, an outbreak credited with 155 hospitalizations and at least 551 people infected. Salmonella official case counts tend to be much lower than actual case numbers because 98% of people heal without hospitalization.
That case ended in voluntary dismissal, with each side paying its own attorney's fees.
Cucumbers from Palm Beach County via Kroger
Kroger issued a recall on whole cucumbers from Bedner on May 21, covering May 14 through May 21. But Jackson's lawsuit says she bought cucumbers at the Kroger in Pearl on May 13 and 'subsequently began experiencing symptoms including fever, severe chills, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, excessive sweating, and diarrhea.'
That got worse through emergency room trips on May 18 and May 20, the latter leading to University of Mississippi Medical Center, where she was admitted. Doctors found colitis, as well as an infection in Jackson's abdominal wall.
'Her condition was debilitating,' the lawsuit said. 'She was unable to eat for several days and required extensive inpatient medical treatment until her discharge on May 27, 2025. Upon discharge, [Jackson] was sent home with a Mid-line IV catheter placed in her upper arm and was required to self-administer Rocephin (an intravenous antibiotic) for more than a week to continue treating the bloodstream infection.'
The IV would be removed June 6.
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