Florida residents have been urged to throw out Gourmet de Lyon food products sold at Green Market locations due to the possible risk for botulism. As reported on WBPF TV:
Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles H. Bronson said the products were found at two Green Market locations in the county. They were only sold at the West Palm Beach Green Market at Narcissus and 2nd Street in West Palm Beach and at the Palm Beach Gardens Green Market at 10500 North Military Trail in Garden Park.
Bronson said the products, which were discovered over the weekend by food safety inspectors, are manufactured by Gourmet de Lyon, a company that produces the food products from a kitchen in a Delray Beach restaurant that has no permit to produce or sell canned products or those sold in jars.
Botulism is a rare but serious paralytic illness caused by a nerve toxin that is produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. Clostridium botulinum is the name of a group of bacteria commonly found in soil. The bacteria are anaerobic, gram-positive, spore-forming rods that produce a potent neurotoxin. These rod-shaped organisms grow best in low oxygen conditions. The bacteria form spores that allow them to survive in a dormant state until exposed to conditions that can support their growth. The organism and its spores are widely distributed in nature. They occur in both cultivated and forest soils, bottom sediment of streams, lakes, and coastal waters, in the intestinal tracts of fish and mammals, and in the gills and viscera of crabs and other shellfish.
Foodborne botulism is a severe type of food poisoning caused by the ingestion of foods containing the potent neurotoxin formed during growth of the organism. The incidence of the disease is low, but the disease is of considerable concern because of its high mortality rate if not treated immediately and properly. Most of the 10 to 30 outbreaks that are reported annually in the United States are associated with inadequately processed, home-canned foods, but occasionally commercially produced foods are implicated as the source of outbreaks. Sausages, meat products, canned vegetables, and seafood products have been the most frequent vehicles for foodborne botulism.